By Colleen Murphy
nj.com
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Atlantic City officials of violated a firefigher’s religious freedom by forcing him to shave his beard, a federal appeals court ruled.
Alexander Smith is an ordained Christian minister who works as a firefighter and air mask technician in Atlantic City.
The case originated in early 2019 after Smith’s request for religious accommodation was denied and he was threatened with suspension.
He then filed suit in federal court, which led to the appeal now decided by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Smith argued that his faith requires him to grow a beard, but the city’s grooming standards mandate that firefighters be clean-shaven to ensure a proper seal on their breathing equipment.
Smith, who has not engaged in fire suppression since 2015, serves in a critical support role maintaining breathing equipment for other firefighters.
The court noted that the city had not required him to undergo fit testing for years and had other options to accommodate his religious beliefs without compromising safety.
Atlantic City likely violated Smith’s religious rights by enforcing the beard ban, the court ruled on May 30.
Smith’s attorney, Kayla Toney of First Liberty Institute, praised the ruling.
“Alex takes both his role as a first responder and his faith seriously,” she said. “Now, he won’t be forced to choose between the two.”
The court reinstated Smith’s lawsuit and ordered the city to stop disciplining him while the case continues.
It did not issue a final ruling on whether he can keep the beard permanently. That decision now goes back to the lower court.
However, the federal appeals court said that Atlantic City’s rule banning beards wasn’t applied fairly across the board.
The opinion noted that while the city claimed the rule was about safety — specifically ensuring air masks fit tightly during fires — it made exceptions for some people.
For example, administrative staff weren’t required to take the same mask-fitting tests, and fire captains had the power to make case-by-case exceptions to the rule.
Because the fire department allowed other kinds of exceptions, the court said it couldn’t turn around and deny an exception to someone who needed one for religious reasons.
In legal terms, that meant the rule wasn’t “generally applicable,” which triggered a much tougher legal standard.
Under that standard, the city had to prove it had no other way to meet its safety goals without burdening the firefighter’s religious belief. The court said the city failed to do that.
It also ruled that the city failed to show that allowing Smith to keep his beard for religious reasons would significantly disrupt operations or create major difficulties under federal civil rights law.
“Religious liberty is our first freedom,” wrote Circuit Judge David Porter in the majority opinion. “So long as the government can achieve its interests in a manner that does not burden religion, it must do so.”
However, the court did uphold the dismissal of Smith’s claims under the Equal Protection Clause and Title VII’s anti-retaliation provisions, finding insufficient evidence that the city’s actions were motivated by religious animus.
The case attracted backing from religious and civil liberties groups, including the Christian Legal Society, the Sikh Coalition and the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, all of which supported Smith’s fight for a religious accommodation.
An Atlantic City spokesperson declined to comment on the case.
©2025 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit nj.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.