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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.