August 7, 2012: Filed Amicus Brief in Tagore v. USA, et. al (94 pages including appendix). ICAAD attorneys were compelled to submit an Amicus Brief in the interest of the Sikh community, so that the Sikh community had a clear voice on conveying the sanctity and significance of the
kirpan to the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Furthermore, we provided examples from foreign jurisdictions to show the prevalence of
kirpan accommodations
globally.
Read ICAAD’s Amicus Brief Filed Before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
September 19, 2012: ICAAD filed affidavits on behalf of Hansdeep Singh, Director of Legal Programs at ICAAD and Satnam Singh, community member, stating that the Department of Justice and the Hart Senate buildings accommodated their kirpans.
September 21, 2012: Scott Newar, Attorney for Ms. Tagore, filed Notice of Case Development including ICAAD’s affidavits at the 5th Circuit, notifying the Court that a government policy exists to accommodate the kirpan.
November 5, 2012: ICAAD, based on previous accommodation requests to DOJ obtained kirpan accommodations for DOJ inter-agency meetings, for the first time.
December 12, 2012: Government filed new FPS policy under seal, in response to the Notice of Case Development and motions filed by Scott Newar.
February 5, 2012: The 5th Circuit Court unseals the FPS policy, one day before oral arguments.
November 13, 2013: The 5th Circuit Court issues its
decision, remanding the case to District Court on the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act claim and dismissing the Title VII claim.
January 27, 2014: ICAAD submitted a
letter to President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, signed by 143 Sikh organizations and Gurdwaras, requesting the Department of Justice to settle the case on behalf of Ms. Tagore.
November 3, 2014: Ms. Tagore and the government reach a settlement on the eve of trial at the District Court.
