Fall 2012 Jewish Court of All Time Scenario
--1 May 2012—
Court officials have confirmed that a special convening of the Jewish
Court of All Time, or JCAT, will take place in September, as the great
figures of human history will ascend Mt. Masada in Israel to hear a
case that has caused tremendous controversy among the citizens of
the European nation of France. In an official JCAT press release,
court officials confirm that the French government recently passed a
law banning the wearing of so-called "ostentatious" religious symbols
in public schools, including large Christian crosses, Jewish skullcaps
and the headscarf, or hijjab, worn by many Muslim women. In
separate actions last year, this ban was challenged by two French
high school students, each of whom took issue with and ultimately
challenged this law. Laila Mokeddem, a young Muslim high school
student, lives near Grenoble, and was denied entry to her high school
because she was wearing a hijjab. Several weeks later, Gilles Blum, a
young Jewish man living in the Marais district of Paris, was told that
he could not attend classes while wearing a yarmulke that school
officials deemed to be too large and distracting.
Both Mademoiselle Mokeddem and Monsieur Blum challenged the
French law in separate cases, each asserting that the ban constituted a
violation of their human rights, and those of their fellow students
(both have been getting their schoolwork and doing it at home since
their banishments, neither being willing to compromise on the issue).
Both appeals were rejected by French courts amidst great controversy
and, on the advice of counsel, both students wound up bringing their
cases to the Jewish Court of All Time, in the hope that the highly
influential court would agree to hear their appeals. Today’s
announcement confirms that the court did so agree, but only under
one specific condition. In an unexpected move, the court declared
that it could hear the appeals only if two cases were joined, tying the
fates of the two appellants together. The press release issued by the
JCAT Chief Magistrate’s office stated that bringing together figures
from across the span of history and across the pages of literature was
simply too colossal an undertaking to conduct separate trials, adding
that despite the very different backgrounds of the two appellants,
their cases framed similar tensions between the rights of the
individual to free expression, and the right of the state to preserve a
unified vision of French culture in public schools. The directive
further claimed that the court was presenting Mokeddem and Blum
the opportunity, through this case, to demonstrate the kind of
cooperation and coexistence that culturally diverse nations such as
France might profitably model.
The JCAT press release confirms that the Blum and Mokeddem
families and their legal teams have agreed to the merging of their
appeals, and also confirms that the French government has agreed to
recognize the authority of the JCAT appeal process and abide by the
court’s decision, which is expected to be handed down by December.