Muslim Arrested Over Head Scarf In CourtroomWednesday, December 17, 2008
A head scarf landed a Muslim woman in jail Tuesday after she refused to remove it during a hearing at the Douglasville Municipal Court.Lisa Valentine, also known by her Islamic name, Miedah, 40, was arrested for 'violating a court policy of no headgear', Chris Womack, deputy chief of operations for the Douglasville Police Department said on Wednesday.
This just blows my mind. If this is not a violation of this woman's civil rights, I don't know what is. As I understand it, ordering a Muslim woman to take off her hijab is like ordering a Christian woman to take her blouse and bra off. Surely this woman's religious obligation to where a hijab is greater than the judge's right to set court policy.
1 comment:
The issue here is the Judge's power to wield authority in their courtroom.
This authority is broad. It covers all aspects of decorum, attire, gum chewing, timeliness, tone and loudness of voice and whether or not you may touch their desk aka The Bench.
This authority is broad for the reason that it is deemed important in our system that when one is brought before the tribunal, or when one avails oneself of the tribunal, it is paramount that the rule of law is recognized.
The Judge, identified most of the time by the black robe and the seat higher than anyone, thus has much latitude in how they wield authority in their courtroom.
Sometimes it is a relief to most in the courtroom when the Judge wields this authority, like when a shrieking class of 2nd graders is silenced and redirected by a teacher.
Sometimes it makes one cringe, as in the time that a substitute Judge here, called all the lawyers to the bench at the beginning of a case in which a teenage boy was to be ordered into state custody because he had just witnessed his mother's suicide attempt the night before. The judge looked sternly at the boy's attorney, and quietly ordered him to first take the boy out into the hall and have him tuck in his shirt.
It gets worse.
The boy was not only rebuked in front of the court, his other family members, and social workers, but he was overweight, and when he tucked his shirt in, one could easily see that this was not the right fashion decision for him.
He had actually looked nice and not really noticeable with the shirt out, which gave him blocky, but clean lines. In her quest to make him show respect for the court, the judge transformed the teen into what looked like a flabby middle-aged beer drinking slob.
Before they returned to the courtroom, he looked at his attorney plaintively and said he didn't think it looked very good. His lawyer told me he just agreed with the youth, who came back into the courtroom with his head hanging. The same head that had been up at least half the night with his insane mother.
Now he had an insane judge with which to deal.
As to headgear specifically, at large docket calls, many many ball caps come off, at least in the midwest. Sometimes a deputy has to approach people to remind them there are no hats or hoods in the courtroom.
Once I waited for a judge to take the bench while a middle aged woman sat in the gallery with a turban hugging her obviously bald head. She was presumably in treatment for cancer.
I pleaded silently that the judge wouldn't be in a bad mood, or feel the need to chasten the whole room on this day by picking on one person, or whatever their reasoning might be.
I was so relieved when the judge did not request that the headgear be removed. Thus we were not all forced to share in this individual's further suffering.
It's not about civil rights if the judge says its not about civil rights.
The Whomper
Post a Comment