Muslim Woman Sues To Get Florida ID Card
Case Pits Civil Liberties Against Post-Sept. 11 Security
POSTED: Thursday, January 23, 2003
UPDATED: 8:39 am EST January 27,
2003
A Muslim woman in Winter Park, Fla., who refused to remove her veil for a driver's license photograph last year is suing the state of Florida again. 
Sultaana Freeman, 35, filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday after the state's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles refused to issue her a state identification card.Freeman applied for a state ID card in October.Freeman was originally allowed to wear her veil, which only reveals her eyes, to obtain a Florida driver's license. However, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles discovered her veiled face in a post-Sept. 11 check of its driver's licenses database.When officials requested that Freeman take a driver's license photo without the veil, she refused. She said her religious beliefs dictated that she should not show her face to strangers or men outside her family. She also said that her constitutional rights were violated."I don't show my face to strangers or unrelated males," Freeman said in an earlier Local 6 News report.She sued when her driver's license was revoked in 2001.Freeman's attorney, Howard Marks, has said that the government's stand on this matter is unconstitutional.Local 6 News reported that Florida law states that license applicants be issued "a color photographic or digital imaged driver's license bearing a full-face photograph.State officials said that agency rules prevent them from issuing cards with photographs of covered faces.Freeman, who is an American-born converted Muslim, will go to trial in April for another lawsuit which seeks the reinstatement of her driver's license with a veil.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
Sultaana Freeman, 35, filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday after the state's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles refused to issue her a state identification card.Freeman applied for a state ID card in October.Freeman was originally allowed to wear her veil, which only reveals her eyes, to obtain a Florida driver's license. However, the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles discovered her veiled face in a post-Sept. 11 check of its driver's licenses database.When officials requested that Freeman take a driver's license photo without the veil, she refused. She said her religious beliefs dictated that she should not show her face to strangers or men outside her family. She also said that her constitutional rights were violated."I don't show my face to strangers or unrelated males," Freeman said in an earlier Local 6 News report.She sued when her driver's license was revoked in 2001.Freeman's attorney, Howard Marks, has said that the government's stand on this matter is unconstitutional.Local 6 News reported that Florida law states that license applicants be issued "a color photographic or digital imaged driver's license bearing a full-face photograph.State officials said that agency rules prevent them from issuing cards with photographs of covered faces.Freeman, who is an American-born converted Muslim, will go to trial in April for another lawsuit which seeks the reinstatement of her driver's license with a veil.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story. Previous Stories:
- July 1, 2002: Judge Allows Muslim Woman's Veiled License Challenge
- June 27, 2002: Judge Allows Muslim Woman's Veiled License Challenge
- June 27, 2002: Muslim Woman Sues Over Driver's License Photo
- February 3, 2002: ID Denied Without Full-Face Photo
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