Three Sikhs who want to keep their religiously mandated uncut hair, beards and turbans during Marine Corps basic training brought their case to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday afternoon.
Sikhism, with approximately 30 million adherents worldwide, requires its male devotees not to trim their hair and to wear beards as a sign of religious devotion. Most Sikhs contain their hair in turbans.
The Marines have said the Sikh’s beliefs can be accommodated following basic training, but that — unlike exemptions granted Sikh recruits by the Air Force, Army and Navy — the Corps will continue to enforce greater conformity on recruits for the 13-week introductory period.
Brian Springer, a Justice Department lawyer representing the Marine Corps, said the “country’s chief expeditionary force” has the right to insist on greater uniformity among recruits during basic training.
Judge Patricia Millett, an Obama appointee said that argument “makes no sense, because nobody during boot camp is going out as an expeditionary force.”
Mr. Springer said the government must “defer to what the Marine Corps has told us here.”
The three-judge panel appeared to be sympathetic to the complaint lodged by Aekash Singh, Jaskirat Singh, and Milaap Singh Chahal, but did not issue the immediate injunction against the service their attorneys requested.
Along with Judge Millet, the case is being heard by Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, and Judge J. Michelle Childs, whom President Biden appointed this year.
“The Marine Corps has made exceptions for literally 1000s of recruits specifically to increase diversity. But unlike the Army, Air Force and Navy, the Marine Corps refuses to give accommodations same accommodations to these three Sikh recruits,” attorney Eric Baxter of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the trio, said during the hearing.
Judge Millett also asked Mr. Baxter to detail the “irreparable harm” claimed by the plaintiffs who requested the injunction so they could enter the Marines before a final ruling was delivered.
Mr. Baxter replied that two years of litigation by the Defense Department puts “the pressure on our clients to sacrifice their religious beliefs in order to serve their country,” and that continuing delays harm their ability to progress in their military careers.
“They lost opportunities to advance; they lost opportunities to retire at an age when they otherwise would have been able to — all of those things can never be remedied. And each day that passes is further harm” to the plaintiffs, he added.
Speaking in a Twitter Spaces audio session after the hearing, Mr. Baxter expressed optimism that the panel will find in favor of the Sikh recruits.
He said that because the Marine Corps “just recently relaxed their rules to allow individuals who need medical beards, because of razor bumps, to get accommodated,” the service “has already cooked its goose, so to speak.
Mr. Baxter added, “They allow women to maintain hairstyles, basically of their choice. And they’re not required to shave their heads for boot camp. They’ve relaxed the rules against tattoos, all to increase the diversity of the ranks.”
Giselle Klapper, senior staff attorney of the Sikh Coalition, said that Sikhs had served in the military dating back to World War I. With its basic training restrictions, she said the “Marine Corps is doing our country a great disservice by stopping distinguished Sikhs from entering its ranks, especially while it seeks to foster and sustain a diverse and inclusive culture within the Corps.”
Mr. Baxter said “the court could rule within a week or two,” adding the plaintiffs have asked for a ruling “no later than the end of this year.”
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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