Chapter 14: Freeman v. Dep't of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles and Webb v. City of Philadelphia - Accommodation Tangles in the Laws Over Hair

Abstract

This paper focuses on two cases from the United States, Freeman v. Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles and Webb v. City of Philadelphia (where the author represented Webb) to critique legal approaches to Muslim women’s head coverings in the post-9/11 context. By critically exploring concepts like accommodation and tolerance, as well as post-9/11 discourses surrounding Islam and Muslims, the paper argues that in each of the cases the State has failed its obligations under the religion clauses of the First Amendment.

Keywords: secularism, First Amendment, hijab, Islam in the United States