The Niqabi Paralegal

As most people expected, a Florida judge has ruled that Sultana Freeman must show her face to get a Florida driver's license (CNN, UPI, Reuters, AP).

The ACLU, which represented Freeman, has said it will appeal the decision. While her appeal is underway, it appears that Freeman will continue, as she has done since her license was revoked, to refrain from driving rather than submit to something she feels is against her religion (please note that Freeman was not trying to disobey the law or she would have been driving all this time; she was seeking to change the law, something that is every citizen's right in a democracy). (this paragraph edited to reflect latest case information)

It will be interesting to see what the repurcussions of this decision are. Fourteen states (Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, and South Carolina) currently allow religious exemptions and non-photo driver's licenses. Will these states now change their laws?

Whatever happens to Sultana Freeman, I don't think this one case will be the end of the photo ID issue. Although most of the attention has focused on Freeman's religious views, this case raises larger questions about the need for photo identification in the post-9/11 world and those questions have not been fully resolved.

Update: The judge's decision is available online (MS Word document).

Muslim Wake Up has some good commentary from a Muslim point of view.

Law professor Eugene Volokh comments.