Veil and driver's license

[Berg, Thomas C.]

The judge's ruling against Sultana Freeman, the Muslim woman challenging the
full-facial photo requirement for a driver's license, is at

http://www.courttv.com/trials/freeman/docs/order.pdf


The court's summary of its conclusions:

"1.     Plaintiff holds a sincere religious belief that she should wear the
niqab in front of all strangers and unrelated Muslim men.

"2.     Plaintiff has not, however, met her burden of showing that the photo
requirement itself substantially burdens her right to free exercise of
religion.  [The judge held that certain facts "undermine Plaintiff's claims
that in her family's practice of religion, all images of living things are
banned. The Court finds that Plaintiff lacks credibility with this argument.
Therefore, the Court finds that a ban on all image-making of living things
is not a sincerely held religious belief of the Plaintiff."]

"3.     Plaintiff also has not met her burden of showing that DHSMV's
request that she "momentarily" lift the veil in a private room in front of
only one, female person, places a substantial burden on her exercise of
religion.

"4.     Therefore, Plaintiff's claim under the Religious Freedom Restoration
Act of 1998 must fail.

"5.     The State has met its burden of showing that it has a compelling
interest in protecting the public from criminal activities and security
threats, and that having access to photo image identification is essential
to promote that interest.

"6.     The State's need to be able to immediately identify subjects of
investigative traffic stops and criminal and intelligence investigations
outweighs anyone's need to pose for a driver's license photo wearing any
garb that cloaks all facial features except the eyes.

"7.     Therefore, the requirement that all potential drivers have their
driver's license photos taken unveiled, uncloaked, and unmasked does not
unconstitutionally burden the free exercise of religion.

"8.     The State has made a reasonable effort to satisfy its interest in
safety and security in the least restrictive manner in this case."