News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) A Las Vegas police detective has the right to wear a beard for religious reasons, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, citing the First Amendment. However, a jury will have to decide whether he also has the right to wear a kippah on the job.

Detective Steve Riback, an observant Orthodox Jew whose position in the office of quality assurance does not require him to wear a uniform, filed a lawsuit for religious discrimination last year against the Metropolitan Police Department after his requests to wear a beard and head covering at work were denied.

The judge acknowledged that the department has a "significant" interest in its officers "maintaining a uniform personal appearance." However, he wrote, "Metro fails to explain why religious beards undermine this interest, but medical beards do not." Riback was represented by an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.