At the U.S. Supreme Court, you know that it’s going to be a hot argument when the usually straight-faced Justice Samuel Alito begins a question this way: “Let’s say four people show up for a job interview … this is going to sound like a joke, but it’s not.”<\/p>\n
The issue before the court on Wednesday was whether retailer Abercrombie & Fitch violated the federal law banning religious discrimination when it rejected a highly rated job applicant because she wore a Muslim headscarf.<\/p>\n
Alito’s hypothetical continued this way: The first of the four applicants to show up at Abercrombie is a Sikh man wearing a turban; the second is a Hasidic man wearing a hat; the third is a Muslim woman wearing a hijab; the fourth is a Catholic nun in a habit. Now, Alito asked Abercrombie’s lawyer: “Do you think that those people have to say, we just want to tell you, we’re dressed this way for a religious reason? We’re not just trying to make a fashion statement.” Or, might we reasonably conclude that Abercrombie knows why they are dressed that way?<\/p>\n