The "Antiquated State 'Garb Law' Is Still Being Enforced" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading Jack Brubaker's "The Scribbler" newspaper column once again.  He always has an interesting column every Sunday in Lancaster's Sunday LNP Lancaster Online.  Today's column had to do with Pennsylvania's antiquated "Garb Law" which still remains on the books.  The story today dealt with prohibiting public school teachers from wearing religiously distinctive clothing.  You know...like wearing a prayer head cover while teaching.  This law is part of the "Garb Law" which was passed in 1895.  And to top that off...it was unsuccessfully challenged early in the 20th century and to this day still exists.  Two nearby Elizabethtown College historians, Steven Nolt and Jean-Paul Benowitz, explained why the "Garb Law" was passed in the first place and why it remains in effect today.  The historians article is titled "Plain Dress in the Docket" and is in the latest issue of Pennsylvania History Magazine.  The law was originally aimed at a group of Catholic nuns whom resigned after the law passed. The law was first enforced against plain-clothed Mennonite and Brethren teachers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  It was specifically tendered against female teachers who wore religious head coverings.  In 1908 a Mennonite teacher in Mt. Joy Township, Lillian Risser, became a target when she wore a head covering and other Plain garb prescribed by her religion.  A Township taxpayer brought a legal complaint against her for violating the law.  The township's school board, comprised of mostly Mennonites, mounted a legal defense with local Democratic lawyer, William Hensel, defending the teacher.  Hensel argued that the Garb Law was unconstitutional and his argument was upheld with reasoning such as: A teacher may cover himself with partisan political badges or herself with the white ribbons of crusading Prohibitionists...so why not Anabaptist clothing?  Later that year a nativist, anti-immigrant group called the Junior Order of American Mechanics appealed the decision to the state's Superior Court.  That court overturned the previous decision.  Superior Court Judge Charles Rice determined that the Garb Law was "directed against acts, not beliefs," and so did not impinge on religious freedom.  The state Supreme Court sustained that decision in 1910.  Thus, Risser's license to teach in a public school was revoked, and she left teaching.  Remaining Mennonite teachers who wanted to continued to teach altered their dress or moved to a parochial school.  Today, all schools except Pennsylvania have repealed the law.  Efforts to repeal the law in 2010 failed, but efforts have once again been initiated.  What will happen?  Only time will tell!  So, as of now, the antiquated state "Garb Law" remains on the books.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.