Religious Expression in Public Places | Nashala Hearn

Nashala Hearn just wanted to wear her hijab to school. When her Oklahoma school banned it, citing the dress code, the Justice Department stepped in to protect Nashala’s freedom of religion.
Before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights & Property Rights, Nashala Hearn retells her experience of being told not to wear her hijab at school. U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) chaired this hearing.
This clip aired on C-Span on June 8, 2004. Ms. Hearn was joined by other witnesses who testified about government discrimination against religious expression and proposed programs to support faith-based charitable initiatives.
Nashala Hearn petitioned for religious freedom at school
When Nashala Hearn first started wearing a hijab, a head covering worn by some Muslim women and girls, to her Oklahoma elementary school, at first, everything was fine. But on Sept. 11, 2003, the school claimed her religious clothing violated the dress code, which prohibited hats and head coverings. She refused to remove her hijab - and was suspended.
Eventually, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the school district for discriminating against her right to exercise her religion by wearing a hijab. She won, protecting students’ right to practice their faith at school, even if there’s a dress code.
“I continued to wear my hijab, because it would be against my religion not to.” - Nashala Hearn
A sixth-grade student who practiced Islam wore her hijab, a religious head covering, for several weeks at the beginning of the 2003-04 school year in the Muskogee Public School District. On September 11, 2003, school officials told the sixth-grader that she could no longer wear her hijab because of the “no hats” policy in the school’s dress code. The dress code, however, had not been applied consistently, and the school district had allowed students to wear hats for medical, educational, and other secular purposes. When the sixth-grader refused to remove her hijab, she was suspended for eight days.
In October 2003, the student, through her father, sued the school district for alleged violations of her constitutional rights and Oklahoma law. The United States opened an investigation in November 2003 and then intervened in the lawsuit upon finding evidence to support a claim based on the denial of her rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. On May 6, 2004, the United States filed a motion for summary judgment and an accompanying memorandum in support.
On May 20, 2004, the parties negotiated a consent order. Under the six-year consent order, the school district must: allow the plaintiff to wear her hijab; make similar religious accommodations for any other student in the school system who has a bona fide religious objection to the dress code; implement a training program for all teachers and administrators regarding the revised dress code; and publicize the revisions to students and parents. The district also must certify its compliance with the terms of the order to the United States for a four-year period. The private plaintiffs and the school district also negotiated a confidential damages settlement and the claim for expungement of her school records.
U.S. To Defend Girl Wearing Scarf in School
The Justice Department announced Tuesday the government’s civil rights lawyers have jumped into a legal case to support a Muslim girl’s right to wear a head scarf in a public school.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Alex Acosta said government lawyers would support 11-year-old Nashala Hearn, a sixth-grade student who has sued the Muskogee, Oklahoma, Public School District for ordering her to remove her head scarf, or hijab, because it violated the dress code of the Benjamin Franklin Science Academy, which she attended.
The girl continued to wear her hijab to school and was subsequently suspended twice for doing so. The family appealed the suspensions, which were upheld by a district administrative hearing committee.
Her parents filed suit against the Muskogee School District last October.
On Tuesday the federal government filed a motion in a federal court in Muskogee to intervene in support of Nashala’s position…
The Council on American-Islamic Relations - which has often been critical of the Bush administration’s policies - praised the government’s support in the case.
“This moves comes in a time when the Muslim community feels like they are being singled out and their civil rights threatened,” a statement from the group said.
“The news also sends out a message to the international community, especially some European countries where the wearing of the head scarf is being banned, that America will defend its citizens’ religious freedoms…”