![Florida court upholds ban of Muslim veil in license photo](https://www.jurist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/jurist-white-text.png)
[JURIST] The Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal [official website] has affirmed [PDF opinion] a lower court's decision to uphold the suspension of a Florida woman's drivers license after she refused to remove a religious veil for her license photo. The ACLU filed the original complaint [text] in 2002 on behalf of Sultaana Freeman, an American Muslim who converted from Christianity to Islam as an adult. Attorneys for Freeman argued that a Florida statute [text] requiring her to remove the hijab, which covered all of her face except her eyes, violated Freeman's First Amendment right to observe her religion. Lawyers for the state contend that the case involved public safety issues and that a driver's license showing a covered face would hinder law enforcement officials. AP has more.