In 2007, after years of battling fires – and the District of Columbia – several DC paramedics and firefighters of different religious faiths won a permanent injunction under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act against a DC policy requiring that they be clean shaven. Each plaintiff wears a beard in accordance with the tenets of his Muslim or Jewish faith. They were represented at the time by the ACLU, and the injunction was affirmed on appeal.
But, in March 2020, District officials instituted a new safety bulletin once again requiring its first responders to be clean shaven. The policy plainly had nothing to do with COVID-19, as it was drafted weeks before the pandemic began, and it related to firefighting equipment, not COVID face coverings. Even so, those who would not shave for religious reasons were moved to “operations,” removing them from their normal duty. Adding injury to injury, the less desirable positions also meant they received lower pay and fewer training and promotion opportunities.
Even though the new safety bulletin concerned the exact same policy and equipment that were subject to our clients’ 2007 permanent injunction – and even though our clients all reminded their supervisors that they were protected by the injunction – DC ignored the injunction, ordered them to shave, and removed them from the field. DC didn’t ask the court for permission; it unilaterally and flagrantly violated a federal court order protecting our clients’ religious rights.
The District’s flagrant disobedience lasted until October 2021, after First Liberty and Covington & Burling LLP came to the first responders’ aid and insisted that the District follow the law. But even when our clients finally returned to the field, the District refused to compensate them for the harm that its disobedience of the federal court order caused.
In November 2022, First Liberty Institute and the law firm Covington & Burling filed a motion for contempt against the District on behalf of the firefighters and paramedics. The motion claims that the city violated the permanent injunction issued in 2007 and must pay for the harms that it caused.
The case was argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in September 2024. In January 2025, the court overturned a lower court decision that refused to hold the District in contempt for violating the 2007 permanent injunction. The court concluded, “The district court applied the wrong legal framework for assessing civil contempt. The firefighters had a private right to enforcement of the original injunction, which protected their religious freedom and permanently forbade the Department from enforcing the 2005 facial hair policy against them. The district court had no general discretion to excuse civil contempt.” The case was remanded back to the lower court for a new hearing.
“We applaud the appellate court for recognizing that violating an injunction in what the lower court called ‘a reasonably cautious way’ is not a recognized defense to civil contempt,” said Becky Dummermuth, Counsel to First Liberty Institute. “This is a victory for all Americans, affirming that courts do not have discretion to simply overlook when the government infringes on civil rights in defiance of a court order.”
News Release
For Immediate Release: 1.28.25
Contact: John Manning, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Federal Appeals Court Grants New Hearing to Washington, DC First Responders Punished for Religious Beards
Federal Appeals court overturns lower court decision that required all first responders to be clean shaven regardless of religious beliefs.
Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously overturned the lower court’s decision that refused to hold the District in contempt for violating a 2007 injunction that protected several first responders’ religious freedom to wear a beard while on duty. First Liberty Institute and the law firm Covington and Burling sought to hold D.C. Fire and Emergency Management Services (“FEMS”) accountable for violating the injunction. The court today vacated that ruling and remanded the case back to the lower court for a new hearing.
You can read the opinion, here.
“We applaud the appellate court for recognizing that violating an injunction in what the lower court called ‘a reasonably cautious way’ is not a recognized defense to civil contempt,” said Becky Dummermuth, Counsel to First Liberty Institute. “This is a victory for all Americans, affirming that courts do not have discretion to simply overlook when the government infringes on civil rights in defiance of a court order.”
Lucas Moench, Associate with Covington and Burling, said, “As the D.C. Circuit recognized, federal court orders are important instruments for protecting individual rights and cannot be disregarded. While additional work remains to be done, the Court’s opinion today is an important step toward vindicating the religious liberties our clients are guaranteed under federal law.”
In 2007, Calvert Potter, Steven Chasin, Hassan Umrani, and Jasper Sterling won a permanent injunction under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act against a D.C. FEMS policy requiring that they be clean shaven and ordering that they be returned to field duty. Then, in 2020, D.C. reinstituted the facial hair policy and moved them to administrative positions when they refused to shave their beards. After decades of faithful service to the city and many years of fighting for FEMS to recognize the religious rights of bearded fire fighters, D.C.’s violation of the injunction erased what the clients thought was a legacy they would leave for religious freedom. While D.C. claims that its actions were justified by COVID-19, it failed to ask the court to modify the injunction and did not consider alternatives for complying with it.
In today’s decision, the court concluded, “The district court applied the wrong legal framework for assessing civil contempt. The firefighters had a private right to enforcement of the original injunction, which protected their religious freedom and permanently forbade the Department from enforcing the 2005 facial hair policy against them. The district court had no general discretion to excuse civil contempt.”
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact John Manning at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
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