Stupidity, Unveiled
Florida resident Sultaana Freeman got her day in
court yesterday.
In case you haven't heard, Freeman is the Muslim
woman suing the State of Florida because the
state's highway department suspended her driver's
license when she refused to remove her veil for her
driver's license photo. Her argument claims that
the state interfered with her religious practices
by requiring her to lift her veil for the
photo.
Time after time, I find myself amazed
that certain lawsuits ever make it to the courtroom
without being dismissed. This is one of them. If
the State of Florida had required Freeman to show
her face in order to apply for food stamps or board
a plane—thus infringing on one of her basic
rights—I could understand the rationale for a
lawsuit (though the latter situation would be a
problematic issue, certainly). But there is no
constitutional right to obtain a driver's license.
Driving a vehicle is a privilege, not a
right—a privilege that can be taken away for a
variety of reasons.
I'm sure the assistant attorney general
defending the state will put forth a variety of
defenses, not the least of which would be if
Freeman wins the right to wear her veil for her
driver's license photo, any garden-variety
terrorist can get a virtually anonymous I.D. But I
just don't see how this lawsuit found the legs to
stand in the first place. Freeman's rights weren't
violated, because she doesn't have the right to
obtain a driver's license. Whether the wearing of a
veil is a strict tenet of Islam or a matter of
interpretation of Islamic law by religious scholars
with differing opinions is irrelevant. Whether
security concerns in a post-9/11 world should
require all drivers to have licenses with photos is
irrelevant. No rights were violated, hence there
should be no lawsuit.
The only clear issue illustrated by this case is
every American's right to file a frivolous lawsuit.
In this Age of Entitlement, when most people feel
they have the right to do whatever the hell they
want and God help the person or entity that tries
to stop them, the lawsuit is the primary instrument
used to gain justification for one's actions (right
or wrong). More often than not, however, such
lawsuits don't reveal the truth, but instead unveil
the stupidity of the person who filed them in the
first place.
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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