German Honorary Judge Challenges Veil Ban in Court

 

A German Muslim woman has been barred from working as a lay judge because she wears a headscarf that allegedly violates the requirement of neutrality. The case is now before the constitutional court.

In 2015, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled against a blanket ban on headscarves for teachers, stating that the ban was incompatible with the freedom of religion guaranteed by the German constitution.

Nine years later, the same court is once again addressing this age-old political and social issue. A secular judge, who wears a headscarf for religious reasons, has filed a constitutional complaint with Germany’s highest court because a higher regional court in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia barred her from taking up the office to which she was elected in 2023.

● Neutrality versus religious freedom

The regional court ruled that any religious symbol worn by a lay judge during a trial would violate the state’s requirement of neutrality. It described this as a dilemma, a “collision between the fundamentally protected practice of religion and the state’s requirements of neutrality in the exercise of the office of a lay judge.”

The disqualified lay judge argued that he understood that wearing a headscarf was a religious duty. He also said that a lay judge wearing a headdress would reflect the diversity of society, thus increasing social acceptance of the court’s rulings.

Sarah Lincoln, an attorney for the Society for Civil Rights (GFF), a nongovernmental organization funded through donations and membership fees, has a similar view.

“We are talking about lay judges, who are supposed to represent the whole of society in court. They do not wear a robe. They are obviously private individuals, who are not subject to the requirements of state neutrality,” Lincoln told DW.

Lincoln added that the Society for Civil Rights believes that if certain groups are excluded, trust in the justice system could be undermined. “Muslim women who wear headscarves are also part of German society,” he said, continuing that just because someone wears religious clothing, such as a yarmulke or headscarf, does not mean they cannot make independent and fair judgments.

Lincoln, however, draws the line at a judge wearing a burka, a veil that covers the entire body and leaves only the eyes visible. “We communicate with our faces, through our facial features,” Lincoln says. For her, a jurist wearing a shroud that covers the entire body would be incompatible with the office.

●When constitutional loyalty is in doubt

“It is a legitimate concern that those who judge others agree with our principles of democracy and fundamental rights,” the lawyer emphasizes. If there were doubts about the constitutional loyalty of lay judges, based on conversations or public statements, they could be excluded.

“This way, you could prevent right-wing extremists or Islamists, for example, from allowing their opinions to influence their judgments,” Lincoln says.

The secular Muslim judge now fighting at Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court is a trained teacher who lectures on religious extremism, anti-Semitism and racism.

Her time as a teacher was brief: she took a leave of absence when her children were born. But she returned to work in 2006. That same year, her state of North Rhine-Westphalia passed a blanket ban on teachers expressing their religious beliefs in public schools.

The Muslim teacher was barred from work because of her headscarf. She applied for jobs at different schools but was rejected. So in 2008, she completed further training and became a family therapist.

It’s been more than 15 years since she was first rejected by a German state because of her faith and appearance and forced to change careers. Now, she’s facing another rejection as a lay judge, for the same reasons. She hopes the German Constitutional Court will uphold her civil rights in this country.

This article was originally written in German.

 

https://www.dw.com/en/german-law-judge-challenges-a-headscarf-diviet-in-court/a-69648119

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