Constitutional Law

Full 9th Circuit orders new hearing in Calif. headscarf case

By By The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court has ordered a new hearing for a Muslim woman who was made to remove her headscarf by Orange County deputies in a courthouse holding cell.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said yesterday that a majority of its 27 judges voted to set aside an earlier 9th Circuit ruling in the case.

The divided three-judge panel of the court decided in May that deputies had not violated Souhair Khatib's religious rights when they ordered her to remove the hijab for security reasons.

Khatib was briefly detained in 2007 while awaiting a probation-violation hearing related to a welfare-fraud conviction.

At issue is whether a courthouse holding cell qualifies as a pretrial detention facility under a federal law that protects inmates' religious practices.

The case is scheduled for rehearing in December before a panel of 11 judges.

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on September 13, 2010 (boomark / email).