DETROIT (AP) -- A federal judge dismissed a case involving a Muslim woman who sued a judge for dismissing her small-claims court case because she refused to remove her veil during testimony.
U.S. District Judge John Feikens ruled Monday against Ginnnah Muhammad’s claims that her constitutional right to freedom of religion and civil right to court access were violated.
Hamtramck Judge Paul Paruk requested she remove her veil during an October 2006 hearing. She was contesting a $3,000 charge from a rental-car company to repair a vehicle she said was broken into.
Muhammad, 44, who owns a business selling skin-care products, wears a niqab - a scarf and veil that covers her head and most of her face. She offered to remove her veil before a female judge, but Paruk is the only judge in the district court in Hamtramck, a city surrounded by Detroit.
Feikens wrote that while Muhammad could not appeal Paruk’s decision based on state law, she could have received state court review and filed a counter claim to the company’s suit against her.
Muhammad’s attorney, Nabih Ayad, said Tuesday he was disappointed with Feikens’ ruling, which he said circumvents the constitutional violations and would appeal within 30 days.
“I feel the judge’s ruling really left a citizen of this community feeling that her belief in the justice system has been stripped from her,” Ayad said. “I always felt that this is a decision that ... has a very good chance of going to the appeals court, maybe even the Supreme Court.”
A message was left Tuesday for Rusty Hills, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office.
Assistant state attorney general Margaret Nelson, who represented Paruk, argued during last month’s hearing before Feikens that the case should be dismissed because his decision wasn’t based on religion. She said he needed to “fully observe” Muhammad to properly determine the facts.
Nelson said the case was a contract dispute between Muhammad and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. The company countersued her later in October 2006 and ultimately won a judgment of $2,083. Muhammad has appealed that decision in Wayne County Circuit Court.
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