December 21, 2018
The new Democratic majority taking control of the US House of Representatives January 3 will propose changing a 181-year-old rule banning head coverings in the chamber to accommodate one of its new members—a Muslim refugee from Somali who covers her hair.
The change was first aired in mid-November and has so far failed to stir much opposition. But the issue of head-coverings has never stirred the kind of ire in the US that it arouses in Europe. In the United States, the object of those most suspicious of Islam has been Sharia law, which doesn’t stir much debate in Europe.
The text of the proposed change in the House rule has not yet been drafted, but legislative staffers said the change would allow members to wear headgear for religious purposes only. That would allow the use of Islamic headscarves, Jewish yarmulkes, Sikh turbans and Mennonite bonnets.
There are no Sikhs or Mennonites in the House, but there are a number of Orthodox Jews who would normally wear a yarmulke or skullcap.
The limitation to religious headgear means that Republicans will not be allowed to crowd the House floor wearing MAGA ball caps!
Two Muslim men, both Democrats, now serve in the House. One of them is leaving and two Muslim women, both Democrats, are entering. One is a Palestinian-born woman, Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Detroit. She does not cover her hair, and sports a huge mop of curly black hair.
The other is Ilhan Omar, a Somali refugee who was elected from Minneapolis to fill the seat being vacated by the first Muslim in Congress, Keith Ellison, who is leaving after being elected attorney general of Minnesota. Omar is usually seen wearing a Somali-style turban, which covers her hair, but not her ears or neck, as the dress code in the Islamic Republic requires. But Omar is sometimes seen in a headscarf that covers her hair, ears and neck.
In an apparent retort to those Americans, mainly women, who oppose Islamic headscarves on the argument that they are forced on women to make them subservient, Omar tweeted recently, “No one puts a scarf on my head but me. It’s my choice — one protected by the First Amendment. And this is not the last ban I’m going to work to lift.”
The rule change would be part of a larger rules reform package. It has received the backing of Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, the senior Democrat in the House of Representatives and its likely speaker, and Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the incoming Democratic chairman of the Rules Committee.
Becket, a nonprofit organization that defends religious liberty, said the change is a “no brainer.”
“Just as we don’t allow religious tests for public office, we don’t bar someone from public office because of her religious clothing,” said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket.
The House first debated head coverings in 1822, when Rep. Charles F. Mercer of Virginia tried — and failed — to pass a rule that would ban members from remaining “covered” while the chamber was in session, according to House’s historical website.
Lawmakers continued to wrangle over the question in the late 1820s and early 1830s. At one point, Rep. Lewis Williams raised a practical objection — if members didn’t wear their hats on their heads, they would have no place to put them, since the old chambers didn’t have a cloakroom. Others said refusing to wear a hat was a great way to differentiate themselves from the king of England and his famous headgear.
Eventually, the hat critics won in 1837 in what the House website calls an “anticlimactic” vote to impose the new rules.
The issue appeared to be one of social standing. At that time, men of the upper class never wore hats inside a building, while the lower classes often did. The issue had nothing to do with women, since they could not vote or run for office at that time.
In the month since the proposal to allow hejab-compliant headgear was first aired, the Iran Times has only seen one objection. E.W. Jackson, an ultra-conservative black minister in Virginia, who has run for statewide office in that state twice and been soundly defeated both times, ranted against the proposal, saying, “The floor of Congress is now going to look like an Islamic Republic.”
Told of the comment, Omar responded, “Well, sir, the floor of Congress is going to look like America. And you’re gonna have to just deal [with it].”
Pastor Jackson explained his position by saying, “We are a Judeo-Christian country. We are a nation rooted and grounded in Christianity and that’s that. And anybody that doesn’t like that, go live somewhere else. It’s very simple. Just go live somewhere else. Don’t try to change our country into some sort of Islamic Republic or try to base our country on Sharia law.”
A recent poll showed 71 percent of Americans report they are Christians, 6 percent say they are members of non-Christian faiths and 23 percent say they adhere to no religion.
The ban on non-religious head coverings will foil Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Florida Democrat known for her colorful, often-bedazzling hats. She told The Miami Herald in 2010 that the headcover ban was “sexist,” arguing that women wear hats indoors.
A Wilson spokeswoman, Joyce Jones, said the congresswoman “does not plan to raise the issue of her signature hats” this time around.