Berkley Center

In Fraternal Order of Police Newark Lodge No. 12 v. City of Newark, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit considered a free exercise challenge to a police policy that prohibited officers from wearing beards. While the city did provide certain exemptions for medical reasons, there was no exemption available for religious hardship. In Employment Division v. Smith, the Supreme Court noted that while neutral laws of general applicability only require a rational basis, when exemptions from a neutral requirement are available, the government may not refuse to extend those exemptions to cases of religious hardship without compelling reason. Relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in Smith, the officers argued that the city violated their free exercise rights because it provided for exemptions on medical grounds but not religious ones, and the city had no compelling reason to do so. The Third Circuit agreed with the officers, finding no compelling reason to justify allowing medical exemptions but not religious ones.