Police v. City of Newark

"Police v. City of Newark", 170 F.3d 359 (3d Cir. 1999), is a case that was argued before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on 1998-06-25 and decided on 1999-03-03. The decision was inspected during the Samuel Alito Supreme Court nomination.

In this case, the City of Newark had ordered its police officers to be clean-shaven; however, it made an exception for medical conditions. Two Muslim members of the police asserted a religious belief that required them to maintain beards, and filed a lawsuit complaining that their freedom of religion was being violated.

The District Court ruled in their favor, and it was affirmed by the Third Circuit, which found that the city had failed to provide a substantial justification for refusing to make accommodation for religious belief in this policy.

Further reading

* [http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.law.umich.edu/library/news/topics/alito/majorityopinions/1stAmd-FreedomofReligion/fraternalorder1999.pdf PDF of Lexis version of Third Circuit document on the case]
* [http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/3rd/975542p.html HTML of Third Circuit opinion]
*cite web|title=Fraternal Order of Police v. City of Newark|publisher=The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty|url=http://www.becketfund.org/index.php/case/24.html — The Becket Fund's history of the case.