During his Speech in Cairo, President Obama made these two statements,
“And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.” and “That’s why the United States government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it.”
Today we learn that the Obama Justice Department, under the leadership of Eric Holder, has filed a suit against Essex County in federal court on behalf of a former Muslim correctional officer. The suit claims the officer was first suspended and then fired by the county for wearing a Muslim head scarf while on duty in violation of her department’s policy.
A nearly identical case was heard recently in Philadelphia’s 3rd Circuit Court which returned an unanimous decision against the plaintiff. The opinion in that case held, in part, that “allowing Ms. Webb to wear religious garb would violate the “religious neutrality” under which the police department operates and impair its effectiveness, “the essential values of impartiality, religious neutrality, uniformity, and the subordination of personal preference would be severely damaged to the detriment of the proper functioning of the police department.”
In the case of the correctional officer, I would think working in an environment surrounded by some potentially violent individuals with a bunch of cloth pre-wrapped around your neck would be a safety hazard at least.
I want to know what reasonable legal justification is being used by the administration to support bringing legal action on behalf of religious beliefs? Will they now independently bring actions in support of Christians and Jews as well? Or is this an effort to fast-track Shari’a law in America?
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