106 Friday, April 18, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS BEST WISHES FOR A HAPPY AND HEALTHY PASSOVER .. . FROM AUTOBAHN MOTORS your local dealer for .. . BACKGROUND Kippot tAnd The Constitution BY JOSEPH C. KAPLAN Special to The Jewish News PEUGEOT Innael lIr Da VOLKSWAGON 1765 Telegraph Rd. 338-4631 Bloomfield Hills Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060 ERBE MIKE MELTZER AND STAFF WISHING YOU AND YOURS A HAPPY & HEALTY PASSOVER DETROIT ORCHARD LAKE LIVONIA 4242 E. 8 Mile 891-1666 . 3240 Orchard Lk. 681-6700 19711 Middlebelt 474-2644 FROM ALL OF US TO ALL OF YOU, A VERY HAPPY & HEALTHY PASSOVER! c The ironic aspect about the re- the interest of the military's cent Suprenie Court ruling on perceived need for uniformity." yarmulkes and the military is Moreover, "[t]he military need that the majority of justices not encourage debate or tolerate agreed with Simcha Goldman, protest to the extent that such the Orthodox Jew who argued tolerance is required of the that he had a constitutional civilian state by the First right to wear his yarmulke while Amendment," he wrote. "[T]o on Air Force duty. But the deci- accomplish , its mission the military must foster instinctive sion was 5-4 against him. Following is why it happened obedience, unity, commitment, and the problems with the and esprit de corps." The Air Force's rules concerning prevailing logic. The decision, . Goldman v. military dress, excluding a yar- Weinberger, made the front mulke, do that, the Court held, page of the New York Times, and thus met the necessary con- and editorials and columns (in- stitutional standards. Justice Stevens, ever the cluding one by George F. Will) followed, each dealing with the iconoclast, wrote a concurring question of whether an Air opinion which began by con- Force psychologist had a con- ceding that "Captain Goldman stitutional right to wear his yar- mulke, against Air Force regula- tions, while on duty. Goldman, a psychologist and An Orthodox Jew Orthodox rabbi, had been allow- lost his Supreme . ed for five years to wear his yar- mulke while on duty as an Air Court case, even Force officer, until he testified though the majority for the defense in a court mar- tial. The prosecutor then lodged of justices agreed a complaint with Captain with his right to Goldman's commanding officer, claiming that wearing a yar- wear a yarmulke in mulke inside was a violation of the military. • Air Force regulations. Goldman, who was ordered not to continue this practice and threatened with a court martial, eventual- presents an especially attractive ly left the Air Force because of • case for an exception from the his insistence on freely practic- uniform regulations that are ap- ing his religion. plicable to all other Air Force Before he returned to the personnel." However, he saw civilian world, however, he filed the case as extending beyond a `lawsuit claiming that the Captain Goldman's yarmulke, regulations, as applied to him, and encompassing the turban of violated his constitutional rights. the Sikh, the saffron robe of a The case wended its way through Satchidananda Ashram- the federal court system (with a Integral Yogi, and the victory at the trial level and a dreadlocks of a Rastafarian. In reversal at the Court of Ap- those cases, Justice Stevens peals), until it reached the posited that "a reasonable stan- Suprema Court this year. dard based on 'functional utili- Just as the various opinions in ty, health and safety considera- the press regarding the case tions, and the goal of a polish- were fairly evenly split, so were ed, professional • appearance," the justices on the Supreme might result in such garb being Court, who voted 5-4 against the' banned. Thus, even though a yarmulke. yarmulke would not be banned Although there are only nine under those same standards, the members of the Supreme Court; result would be a lack of there were five separate opi- "uniform. treatment for the nions, each one expressing a members of all religious faiths," clearly delineated point of view. which, in Justice Stevens view, The Court's opinion, written is constitutionally invalid. "The by Justice Rehnquist, rejected Air Force has no business draw- Captain Goldman's claim to free ing distinctions between [a Sikh exercise of religion without even • or a Rastafarian on the one hand weighing it against the Air and an Orthodox Jew on the Force's supposed interest in other] when it is enforcing com- uniformity of dress. Rather, he mands of universal applica- simply • held that "[t]he Air tions." . Force has drawn the line es- So much for the majority. As sentially between religious ap- , one would expect, the major dis- parel which is visible and that which is not, and we hold that ' sent was a stirring opinion by those portions of the regulations Justice Brennan, in which challenged here reasonably and Justice Marshall joined. Justice evenhandedly regulate dress in Brennan began by recognizing that the majority opinion "overlooks the sincere and Mr. Kaplan, a frequent con- serious nature of [Captain tributor to these pages, is an at- Goldman's] constitutional torney practicing in New York. claim." He then stated his basic . , HOPP MANAGEMENT COMPANY 401 South Woodward, Suite 456 Birmingham, Michigan 48011.1621 (313) 258.6400 , • • ,