Reuters/Hamodia

June 1, 2015

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of a Muslim woman who sued for discrimination after being denied a sales job at age 17 at an Abercrombie & Fitch clothing store in Oklahoma because she wore a head scarf for religious reasons. The decision, which grants wide protection of religious beliefs and practices, was hailed by an extensive range of groups involved in the protection of religious liberty.

“The Orthodox Jewish community applauds today’s ruling by the Supreme Court — as should Americans of all faiths,” said Nathan Diament of the Orthodox Union. “Today’s ruling not only affirmed basic protections against religious discrimination … in the words of the Court, ‘Religious practice is one of the protected characteristics that cannot be accorded [unfair] treatment and must be accommodated.’ This is a great day for religious freedom in the United States.”

In an 8–1 decision in the important religious rights case, the court backed Samantha Elauf, who had been rejected under Abercrombie’s sales staff “look policy” after coming to her job interview wearing the hijab, or head scarf, used by many Muslim women.

To read the rest of this ruling in Hamodia, click here.