Legal Issue(s): NA
Case Description
Alexander Smith, an air mask technician with the Atlantic City Fire Department in Atlantic City, New Jersey, asked the Court of Appeals for Third Circuit to uphold a religious accommodation allowing him to grow a beard consistent with his faith. Fire department policy prohibits beards of any length. The purported reason for the prohibition is to ensure all service members can wear protective face masks as required by their role, but Mr. Smith’s role is entirely administrative—he is not required to fight fires or wear an air mask. After Mr. Smith’s formal request for a religious accommodation to wear a beard was denied, he sued the City of Atlantic City in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, but the court granted summary judgment for the city, mutating Groff v. DeJoy’s “substantial increased cost” standard into a “substantial non-economic cost” standard and applying rational basis rather than strict scrutiny. CLS, joined by the National Association of Evangelicals, filed an amicus brief in support of Mr. Smith’s appeal urging the Third Circuit to reverse the district court’s decision and remand so that the district court can apply the correct standard of law.
