Muslim Woman Can Move Ahead on Some Challenges to Sheriff's Booking Photo Policy

In Hague v. Kent County, (WD MI, Sept. 9, 2024), plaintiff, a Muslim woman, challenged the Kent County, Michigan, Sheriff Office's policy on booking photos for detainees wearing a religious head covering. Two photos were taken, one with the head covering and one without.  Only the one with the head covering is released to the public. The other was uploaded to the Michigan State Police data base. Multiple officers could be present when the photos were taken. The court held that the photo policy imposed a substantial burden on plaintiff's religious exercise in violation of RLUPA. but that money damages are not available for RLUIPA violations. Declaratory or injunctive relief is available. It also allowed plaintiff to move forward with her 1st Amendment free exercise claim, including for damages, against the county and the sheriff's office. The sheriff, though, has qualified immunity as to damage claims under the 1st Amendment.

Class Action By Muslim Women Against NYPD Settled for $17.5M

 AP reports that New York City has agreed to settle the class action damage claim in Clark v. City of New York for $17.5 million. The suit brought in a New York federal district court under RLUIPA challenged the NYPD's former policy of requiring Muslim women to remove their hijabs when sitting for arrest photos. (See prior posting.) Under the settlement, which still must obtain judicial approval, the $17.5 million will be shared equally by all class members who file a claim, with each getting a minimum of $7,824.  Previously, settling the claims for an injunction and declaratory judgment, the police department agreed to change its arrest photo policy. (See prior posting).

County Revises Policy on Religious Head Coverings in Booking Photos in Settlement of Suit by Muslim Woman

In a Settlement Agreement (full text) in Johnston v. Rutherford County, Tennessee, (MD TN, 1/18/2024), the county has agreed to pay $100,000 in damages to a Muslim woman who authorities required to remove her hijab for a booking photo. Sophia Johnston was stopped by police for having a taillight out and was arrested when it turned out she had a 6-year-old outstanding warrant for failing to appear on charges of driving with a suspended license. (Background.) In the Settlement Agreement, the county also agreed to delete from its records photos and video of Johnston without her hijab. Johnston will have a booking photo wearing her hijab retaken. Under the Agreement, the county has also adopted a new policy on Religious Accommodations for Head Coverings During Booking Process (full text) and has updated its Detention Center Protocols (full text) to allow booking photos to be taken with religious head coverings so long as the head covering is first removed for a search.  WZTV News reports on the settlement.

Qualified Immunity Denied In Muslim Woman's Challenge To Jail's Booking Photo Policy

In Chaaban v. City of Detroit, Michigan Department of Corrections, (ED MI, Sept. 2, 2022), a Michigan federal district court denied a motion in a RLUIPA case for reconsideration of the denial of qualified immunity to corrections officials who forced a Muslim woman to remove her hijab for a booking photograph. The court concluded that it was premature to grant immunity on a motion to dismiss, saying in part:

[D]iscovery is needed to determine “whether the state of the law . . . gave [the defendants] fair warning that [the plaintiff’s] alleged treatment was unconstitutional.”... Plaintiff plausibly alleged in her complaint that prison officers threatened to make Plaintiff “sleep on the concrete floor of the booking cell without a bed, blanket, mattress or pillow” if she did not remove her hijab.... Taking this and other allegations in Plaintiff’s complaint as true ... the Court properly determined that qualified immunity is not appropriate at this time.

Muslim Women Can Move Ahead With Suit Challenging NYPD Arrest Photo Policy

In Clark v. City of New York, (SD NY, Sept. 17, 2021), a New York federal district court allowed two Muslim women to move ahead with their lawsuit under the 1st Amendment and RLUIPA challenging the New York City police department's requirement that they remove their hijab when sitting for an arrest photo. The court said in part:

Allowing an arrestee to maintain her ordinary appearance in a Booking Photograph does not undermine the legitimate interest of keeping a photographic record of arrestees... In fact, photographing the arrestee in her ordinary appearance likely furthers law enforcement’s interest in identification—rather than impeding such interest—because arrestees who have a sincere religious belief that requires them to wear a head covering are likely to be wearing that same covering when the need to identify them arises.

The court also refused to dismiss one of the plaintiff's assertion of a private right of action under the New York constitution. 

Firefighter Loses Suit Over Refusal To Be Photographed

In Swartz v. Sylvester, (D MA, June 28, 2021), a Massachusetts federal district court dismissed a damage action brought by a firefighter who was disciplined after he refused, based on his personal Christian religious beliefs, to sit for an in -uniform photograph because it might be used for promotional purposes, and not just for ID tags and cards. The court said in part:

[T]he order was both facially neutral (and neutral in light of the totality of the circumstances) and generally applicable. Therefore, Sylvester must show only a “rational basis” for the policy....

The court also found qualified immunity:

even assuming that Swartz’s rights under the Free Exercise Clause were in fact violated, the legal contours of those rights were not sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would have understood that what he was doing violated them.