Posted on 09/07/2005 1:39:58 PM PDT by bwteim
Court upholds ruling on license photo
By JAY STAPLETON Staff Writer
Last update: September 07, 2005
DAYTONA BEACH -- A local appeals court says the constitutional rights of a Muslim woman who wanted to wear a veil in her driver's license photo were not violated and she must follow the state law requiring full face photos. The opinion reached Friday by the 5th District Court of Appeal affirmed a 2003 order from a trial court in Orlando, which shot down the civil lawsuit filed by Sultaana Freeman of Winter Park, denying her the right to have her license picture taken with her face covered in a veil.
"We recognized the tension created as a result of choosing between following the dictates of one's religion and the mandates of secular law," wrote Appellate Judge Emerson R. Thompson Jr. in the 15 page opinion. "However, as long as the laws are neutral and generally applicable to the citizenry, they must be obeyed."
The court found that enforcing the full face photo requirement did not violate the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, because forcing Freeman's compliance of the law did not place a substantial burden on her free exercise of religion.
The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles originally issued Freeman a license showing her wearing a veil in 2001, but later suspended it. According to court records, Freeman had a photo license in Illinois which showed her wearing a veil before she moved to Florida about eight years ago.
Born Sandra Michele Keller, Freeman, 38, was raised in a Christian household but converted to the Islamic religion in 1997. She is a married mother of two young children.
Freeman claims the suspension of her license was an infringement upon her constitutional rights. Freeman's attorney, Howard Marks, argued that his client should not be punished for wanting to practice her religion.
Freeman lost her civil lawsuit when Circuit Judge Janet C. Thorpe agreed with authorities that letting people conceal their faces on a driver's license was a terrorist risk.
The state "has a compelling interest in protecting the public from criminal activities and security threats," and that photo identification "is essential to promote that interest," the trial judge said.
In considering the trial court's conclusion, the appeals court found enforcement of the law "did not compel Freeman to engage in conduct that her religion forbids -- her religion does not forbid all photographs."
In July 2003, Gov. Jeb Bush signed legislation requiring that driver's licenses must include a picture of the driver's full face.
Then there is her police mugshot
HA HA that funny LOLOL!!
How tall is Robert Bryd I doubt he is taller he can't probably look over the steeling wheel
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