Police v. City of Newark

Police v. City of Newark
Court	United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Full case name	Fraternal Order of Police Newark Lodge No. 12; Faruq Abdul-Aziz; Shakoor Mustafa v. City of Newark; Newark Police Department; Joseph J. Santiago, Newark Police Director; Thomas C. O'Reilly, Newark Chief of Police
Decided	March 3, 1999
Citation(s)	170 F.3d 359 (3d Cir. 1999)
Case history
Prior action(s)	District Court ruled in plaintiffs' favor
Case opinions
Majority: Alito (unanimous)
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	Greenberg, Alito, and McKee, Circuit Judges

Police v. City of Newark, 170 F.3d 359 (3d Cir. 1999), is a case that was argued before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on 1998-06-25 and decided on 1999-03-03. The decision was inspected during the Samuel Alito Supreme Court nomination.

In this case, the Police Department of City of Newark had ordered its police officers to be clean-shaven; however, it made an exception for medical conditions. Two Muslim members of the police asserted a religious belief that required them to maintain beards, and filed a lawsuit complaining that their freedom of religion was being violated.

The District Court ruled in their favor, and it was affirmed by the Third Circuit, which found that the city had failed to provide a substantial justification for refusing to make accommodation for religious belief in this policy.

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