Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/425/238/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 11:56:44+00:00

Document:
A county regulation limiting the length of county policemen's hair held not to violate any right guaranteed respondent policeman by the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp. 425 U. S. 244-249.
(a) Respondent sought the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment, not as an ordinary citizen, but as a law enforcement employee of the county, a subdivision of the State, and this distinction is one of considerable significance, since a State has wider latitude and notably different interests in imposing restrictive regulations on its employees than it does in regulating the citizenry at large. P. 425 U. S. 245.
(b) Choice of organization, dress, and equipment for law enforcement personnel is entitled to the same sort of presumption of legislative validity as are state choices to promote other aims within the cognizance of the State's police power. Thus, the question is not whether the State can "establish" a "genuine public need" for the specific regulation, but whether respondent can demonstrate that there is no rational connection between the regulation, based as it is on the county's method of organizing its police force, and the promotion of safety of persons and property. P. 425 U. S. 245-247.
(c) Whether a state or local government's choice to have its police uniformed reflects a desire to make police officers readily recognizable to the public or to foster the esprit de corps that similarity of garb and appearance may inculcate within the police force itself, the justification for the hair style regulation is sufficiently rational to defeat respondent's claim based on the liberty guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp. 425 U. S. 247-248.
post, p. 425 U. S. 249. STEVENS, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
The District Court for the Eastern District of New York originally dismissed respondent's complaint seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against a regulation promulgated by petitioner limiting the length of a policeman's hair. On respondent's appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, that judgment was reversed, and on remand, the District Court took testimony and thereafter granted the relief sought by respondent. The Court of Appeals affirmed, and we granted certiorari, 421 U.S. 987 (1975), to consider the constitutional doctrine embodied in the rulings of the Court of Appeals. We reverse.
protection under the Fourteenth Amendment, in that it was "not based upon the generally accepted standard of grooming in the community," and placed "an undue restriction" upon his activities therein.
relief prayed for by respondent, and, on petitioner's appeal, that judgment was affirmed without opinion by the Court of Appeals. 508 F.2d 836.
"No State shall . . . deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
This section affords not only a procedural guarantee against the deprivation of "liberty," but likewise protects substantive aspects of liberty against unconstitutional restrictions by the State. Board of Regents v. Roth, 408 U. S. 564, 408 U. S. 572 (1972); Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479, 381 U. S. 502 (1965) (WHITE, J., concurring).
The "liberty" interest claimed by respondent here, of course, is distinguishable from the interests protected by the Court in Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113 (1973); Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U. S. 438 (1972); Stanley v Illinois, 405 U. S. 645 (1972); Griswold v. Connecticut, supra; and Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U. S. 390 (1923). Each of those cases involved a substantial claim of infringement on the individual's freedom of choice with respect to certain basic matters of procreation, marriage, and family life. But whether the citizenry at large has some sort of "liberty" interest within the Fourteenth Amendment in matters of personal appearance is a question on which this Court's cases offer little, if any, guidance. We can, nevertheless, assume an affirmative answer for purposes of deciding this case, because we find that assumption insufficient to carry the day for respondent's claim.
"[a]t the same time, it cannot be gainsaid that the State has interests as an employer in regulating the speech of its employees that differ significantly from those it possesses in connection with regulation of the speech of the citizenry in general."
More recently, we have sustained comprehensive and substantial restrictions upon activities of both federal and state employees lying at the core of the First Amendment. CSC v. Letter Carriers, 413 U. S. 548 (1973); Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U. S. 601 (1973). If such state regulations may survive challenges based on the explicit language of the First Amendment, there is surely even more room for restrictive regulations of state employees where the claim implicates only the more general contours of the substantive liberty interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.
salute the flag. [Footnote 7] He may not take an active role in local political affairs by way of being a party delegate or contributing or soliciting political contributions. [Footnote 8] He may not smoke in public. [Footnote 9] All of these and other regulations [Footnote 10] of the Suffolk County Police Department infringe on respondent's freedom of choice in personal matters, and it was apparently the view of the Court of Appeals that the burden is on the State to prove a "genuine public need" for each and every one of these regulations.
This view was based upon the Court of Appeals' reasoning that the "unique judicial deference" accorded by the judiciary to regulation of members of the military was inapplicable because there was no historical or functional justification for the characterization of the police as "paramilitary." But the conclusion that such cases are inapposite, however correct, in no way detracts from the deference due Suffolk County's choice of an organizational structure for its police force. Here, the county has chosen a mode of organization which it undoubtedly deems the most efficient in enabling its police to carry out the duties assigned to them under state and local law. [Footnote 11] Such a choice necessarily gives weight to the overall need for discipline, esprit de corps, and uniformity.
not challenge the constitutionality of the organizational structure, but merely asserts that the present hair length regulation infringes his asserted liberty interest under the Fourteenth Amendment. We believe, however, that the hair length regulation cannot be viewed in isolation, but must be rather considered in the context of the county's chosen mode of organization for its police force.
The promotion of safety of persons and property is unquestionably at the core of the State's police power, and virtually all state and local governments employ a uniformed police force to aid in the accomplishment of that purpose. Choice of organization, dress, and equipment for law enforcement personnel is a decision entitled to the same sort of presumption of legislative validity as are state choices designed to promote other aims within the cognizance of the State's police power. Day-Brite Lighting, Inc. v. Missouri, 342 U. S. 421, 342 U. S. 423 (1952); Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U. S. 158, 321 U. S. 168-170 (1944); Olsen v. Nebraska, 313 U. S. 236, 313 U. S. 246-247 (1941). Having recognized in other contexts the wide latitude accorded the government in the "dispatch of its own internal affairs," Cafeteria Workers v. McElroy, 367 U. S. 886, 367 U. S. 896 (1961), we think Suffolk County's police regulations involved here are entitled to similar weight. Thus the question is not, as the Court of Appeals conceived it to be, whether the State can "establish" a "genuine public need" for the specific regulation. It is whether respondent can demonstrate that there is no rational connection between the regulation, based as it is on the county's method of organizing its police force, and the promotion of safety of persons and property. United Public Workers v. Mitchell, 330 U. S. 75, 330 U. S. 100-101 (1947); Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U. S. 11, 197 U. S. 30-31, 197 U. S. 35-37 (1905).
respondent's complaint. Neither this Court, the Court of Appeals, nor the District Court is in a position to weigh the policy arguments in favor of and against a rule regulating hairstyles as a part of regulations governing a uniformed civilian service. The constitutional issue to be decided by these courts is whether petitioner's determination that such regulations should be enacted is so irrational that it may be branded "arbitrary," and therefore a deprivation of respondent's "liberty" interest in freedom to choose his own hairstyle. Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U. S. 483, 348 U. S. 487-488 (1955). The overwhelming majority of state and local police of the present day are uniformed. This fact itself testifies to the recognition by those who direct those operations, and by the people of the States and localities who directly or indirectly choose such persons, that similarity in appearance of police officers is desirable. This choice may be based on a desire to make police officers readily recognizable to the members of the public, or a desire for the esprit de corps which such similarity is felt to inculcate within the police force itself. Either one is a sufficiently rational justification for regulations so as to defeat respondent's claim based on the liberty guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment.
of a uniformed civilian service based on the "liberty" interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment must necessarily be treated for constitutional purposes the same as a similar claim by a member of the general public.
"2/75.0 Members of the Force and Department shall be neat and clean at all times while on duty. Male personnel shall comply with the following grooming standards unless excluded by the Police Commissioner due to special assignment:"
"2/75.1 HAIR: Hair shall be neat, clean, trimmed, and present a groomed appearance. Hair will not touch the ears or the collar except the closely cut hair on the back of the neck. Hair in front will be groomed so that it does not fall below the band of properly worn headgear. In no case will the bulk or length of the hair interfere with the proper wear of any authorized headgear. The acceptability of a member's hair style will be based upon the criteria in this paragraph and not upon the style in which he chooses to wear his hair."
"2/75.2 SIDEBURNS: If an individual chooses to wear sideburns, they will be neatly trimmed and tapered in the same manner as his haircut. Sideburns will not extend below the lowest part of the exterior ear opening, will be of even width (not flared), and will end with a clean-shaven horizontal line."
"2/75.3 MUSTACHES: A short and neatly trimmed mustache may be worn, but shall not extend over the top of the upper lip or beyond the corners of the mouth."
"2/75.4 BEARDS & GOATEES: The face will be clean-shaven other than the wearing of the acceptable mustache or sideburns. Beards and goatees are prohibited, except that a Police Surgeon may grant a waiver for the wearing of a beard for medical reasons with the approval of the Police Commissioner. When a Surgeon prescribes that a member not shave, the beard will be kept trimmed symmetrically and all beard hairs will be kept trimmed so that they do not protrude more than one-half inch from the skin surface of the face."
"2/75.5 WIGS: Wigs or hair pieces will not be worn on duty in uniform except for cosmetic reasons to cover natural baldness or physical disfiguration. If under these conditions, a wig or hair piece is worn, it will conform to department standards."
E.g., Stradley v. Andersen, 478 F.2d 188 (CA8 1973); Greenwald v. Frank, 40 App.Div.2d 717, 337 N.Y.S.2d 225 (1972), aff'd without opinion, 32 N.Y.2d 862, 299 N.E.2d 895 (1973). The District Court's dismissal was based on cases upholding the discretionary power of the military and National Guard to regulate a soldier's hair length. See Gianatasio v. Whyte, 426 F.2d 908 (CA2), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 941 (1970); Raderman v. Kaine, 411 F.2d 1102 (CA2), cert. dismissed, 396 U. S. 976 (1969).
483 F.2d at 1130. While it recognized the distinction between citizens and uniformed employees of police and fire departments, the Court of Appeals stated that the individual's status did not bear on the existence of his right, but on whether the right was outweighed by a legitimate state interest. Id. at 1130 n. 9.
"Members of the Force will be neat and clean at all times while on duty. Male personnel will comply with the following grooming standards unless excluded by the Police Commissioner due to special assignments:"
"A. Hair will be neat, clean, trimmed and present a groomed appearance. Hair will not go below the ears or the collar except the closely cut hair on the back of the neck. Pony tails are prohibited. In no case will the bulk or length of the hair interfere with the proper wear of any authorized headgear."
"B. If a member chooses to wear sideburns, they will be neatly trimmed. Sideburns will not extend below the lowest part of the ear. Sideburns shall not be flared beyond 2' in width and will end with a clean-shaven horizontal line. Sideburns shall not connect with the mustache."
"C. A neatly trimmed mustache may be worn."
Rules and Procedures, Police Department, County of Suffolk, N.Y. 2/2.16 (hereinafter Rules and Procedures). Sections 2/75.4-2/75.5, see n 1, supra, were simply renumbered as 2/2.16, subdivisions D and E, respectively. Deputy Commissioner Rapp's testimony on remand was directed to the regulation as modified. For present purposes, the differences are immaterial.
"The remainder of 2/2.16A, however, bears no relationship to safety, but rather related to hair styling. The potential danger in hairdress is the ability of the offender to grip the hair and hold the fate of the police officer in his hand. Bulk and length of the hair is not regulated except as it interferes with 'the proper wear of any authorized headgear.' Thus, the regulation would permit bulky and lengthy hair on the top of the head, thereby presenting the very problem that was demonstrated. In the remaining subdivisions, sideburns, mustaches and wigs are regulated and beards are barred. No proof was offered to support any claim of the need for the protection of the police officer in the pertinent regulations."
"The high morale of police personnel is a matter of grave concern to the department. Proper grooming is an ingredient of the esprit de corps of a good law enforcement organization. The self-esteem generated in the individual and the respect commanded from the public it serves promotes [sic] the efficiency of the organization's work. However, with the exception of the general requirement that hair, sideburns and mustaches be neatly trimmed, the regulations do not provide standards for proper grooming. Rather, the standards do nothing more than demand uniformity. Uniformity for uniformity's sake does not establish a public need. Defendant offered no proof that beards, goatees, hair styles that extend below the ears or collar, or sideburns that extend below the lowest part of the ear or beyond 2' in width and do not end with a clean shaven horizontal line affect the morale of the members of the police department or earn the disrespect of the public."
Id. at 7a-8a. While noting Rapp's testimony that uniformity was required for identification, the District Court stated: "It would appear, however, that the uniform (issued by the department) supplies the necessary identification for police work."
See, e.g., id., 2/14.0 et seq. (Code of Ethics).
The Court of Appeals itself found that, while there was no desire on the part of local governments like Suffolk County to create a "military force," "[t]he use of such organization evolved as a practical administrative solution. . . ." 483 F.2d at 1128-1129 (emphasis added).
I concur in the opinion of the Court, and write to make clear that, contrary to the concern expressed in the dissent, I find no negative implication in the opinion with respect to a liberty interest within the Fourteenth Amendment as to matters of personal appearance. See Poe v. Ullman, 367 U. S. 497, 367 U. S. 541-543 (1961) (Harlan, J., dissenting). When the State has an interest in regulating one's personal appearance, as it certainly does in this case, there must be a weighing of the degree of infringement of the individual's liberty interest against the need for the regulation. This process of analysis justifies the application of a reasonable regulation to a uniformed police force that would be an impermissible intrusion upon liberty in a different context.
hair. While the Court only assumes for purposes of its opinion that "the citizenry at large has some sort of liberty' interest within the Fourteenth Amendment in matters of personal appearance . . . ," ante at 425 U. S. 244, I think it clear that the Fourteenth Amendment does indeed protect against comprehensive regulation of what citizens may or may not wear. And I find that the rationales offered by the Court to justify the regulation in this case are insufficient to demonstrate its constitutionality. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
attitude and lifestyle. [Footnote 2/2] In taking control over a citizen's personal appearance, the government forces him to sacrifice substantial elements of his integrity and identity as well. To say that the liberty guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment does not encompass matters of personal appearance would be fundamentally inconsistent with the values of privacy, self-identity, autonomy and personal integrity that I have always assumed the Constitution was designed to protect. See Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113 (1973); Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U. S. 557, 394 U. S. 564 (1969); Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479, 381 U. S. 485 (1965); Olmstead v. United States, 277 U. S. 438, 277 U. S. 478 (1928) (Brandeis, J., dissenting).
principle . . . they might have declared that a man should have a right to wear his hat if he pleased . . . , but [I] would ask the gentleman whether he thought it necessary to enter these trifles in a declaration of rights, in a Government where none of them were intended to be infringed."
Id. at 555 (emphasis added). Thus, while they did not include it in the Bill of Rights, Sedgwick and his colleagues clearly believed there to be a right in one's personal appearance. And, while they may have regarded the right as a trifle as long as it was honored, they clearly would not have so regarded it if it were infringed.
of what he eats, or wears, or reads."
Kent v. Dulles, 357 U. S. 116, 357 U. S. 125-126 (1958) (emphasis added).
"be based on a desire to make police officers readily recognizable to the members of the public, or a desire for the esprit de corps which such similarity is felt to inculcate within the police force itself."
no less identifiable as a policeman. And one cannot easily imagine a plainclothes officer being readily identifiable as such simply because his hair does not extend beneath his collar.
The Court cautions us not to view the hair length regulation in isolation, but rather to examine it "in the context of the county's chosen mode of organization for its police force." Ante at 425 U. S. 247. While the Court's caution is well taken, one should also keep in mind, as I fear the Court does not, that what is ultimately under scrutiny is neither the overall structure of the police force nor the uniform and equipment requirements to which its members are subject, but rather the regulation which dictates acceptable hair lengths. The fact that the uniform requirement, for instance, may be rationally related to the goals of increasing police officer "identifiability" and the maintenance of esprit de corps does absolutely nothing to establish the legitimacy of the hair length regulation. I see no connection between the regulation and the offered rationales, [Footnote 2/8] and would accordingly affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
We have held that the Constitution's protection of liberty encompasses the interest of parents in having their children learn German, Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U. S. 390 (1923); the interest of parents in being able to send their children to private as well as public schools, Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U. S. 510, 268 U. S. 534-535 (1925); the interest of citizens in traveling abroad, Kent v. Dulles, 357 U. S. 116, 357 U. S. 125 (1958); Aptheker v. Secretary of State, 378 U. S. 500, 378 U. S. 505 (1964); the interest of a woman in deciding whether or not to terminate her pregnancy, Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113, 410 U. S. 153 (1973); and the interest of a student in the damage to his reputation caused by a 10-day suspension from school. Goss v. Lopez, 419 U. S. 565, 419 U. S. 574-575 (1975).
While the parties did not address ally First Amendment issues in any detail in this Court, governmental regulation of a citizen's personal appearance may, in some circumstances, not only deprive him of liberty under the Fourteenth Amendment, but violate his First Amendment rights as well. Tinker v. Des Moines School Dist., 393 U. S. 503 (169).
There has been a substantial amount of lower court litigation concerning the constitutionality of hair length and dress code regulations as applied to schoolchildren. Some of the cases have found the rationales offered for such regulations to be sufficient to support their constitutionality. See, e.g., King v. Saddleback Junior College Dist., 445 F.2d 932 (CA9), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 979 (1971); Gell v. Rickelman, 441 F.2d 444 (CA6 1971); Ferrell v. Dallas Independent School Dist., 392 F.2d 697 (CA5), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 856 (1968). Other cases have found similar regulations unconstitutional. See, e.g., Richards v. Thurston, 424 F.2d 1281 (CA1 1970); Breen v. Kahl, 419 F.2d 1034 (CA7 1969), cert. denied, 398 U.S. 937 (1970). None of the cases, however, have indicated that the Constitution may offer no protection at all against comprehensive regulation of the personal appearance of the citizenry at large.
"who, after having their beards shaved off, saved them preciously, in order to have them placed in their coffins, fearing that they would not be allowed to enter heaven without them."
J. Robinson, Readings in European History 390 (1906).
There are more recent instances, too, of governments regulating the personal appearance of their citizens. See, e.g., N.Y. Times, Feb. 18, 1974, p. 22, col. 4 (Czech police stop long-haired young men, telling them to get haircuts); id. July 23, 1972, p. 4, col. 1 (Libyan Government tells youths to trim hair and wear more sober clothes or submit themselves for training in the army); id. July 7, 1971, p. 22, col. 8 (over 1,000 young men rounded up and given haircuts by South Korean police in what was described by government officials as a "social purification" campaign); id. Oct. 13, 1970, p. 11, col. 1 (police force more than 1,400 South Vietnamese youths to cut their hair). It is inconceivable to me that the Constitution would offer no protection whatsoever against the carrying out of similar actions by either our Federal or State Governments.
"status of the individual raising the claim bears [not on the existence of the right, but rather] on the question of whether the right is outweighed by a legitimate state interest."
483 F.2d at 1130 n. 9. Thus, the need to evaluate the governmental interest and the connection between it and the challenged governmental action is as present when the party whose rights have allegedly been violated is a public employee as when he is a private employee. See CSC v. Letter Carriers, 413 U. S. 548, 413 U. S. 564-567 (1973). To hold that citizens somehow automatically give up constitutional rights by becoming public employees would mean that almost 15 million American citizens are currently affected by having "executed" such "automatic waivers." Statistical Abstract of the United States 1975, p. 272.
Nor, to say the least, is the esprit de corps argument bolstered by the fact that the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, a 25,000-member union representing uniformed police officers, has filed a brief as amicus curiae arguing that the challenged regulation is unconstitutional.
The regulation itself eschews what would appear to be a less intrusive means of achieving similarity in the hair length of on-duty officers. According to the regulation, a policeman cannot comply with the hair length requirements by wearing a wig with hair of the proper length while on duty. The regulation prohibits the wearing of wigs or hairpieces "on duty in uniform except for cosmetic reasons to cover natural baldness or physical disfiguration." Ante at 425 U. S. 240 n. 1. Thus, while the regulation in terms applies to grooming standards of policemen while on duty, the hair length provision effectively controls both on-duty and off-duty appearance.
Because, to my mind, the challenged regulation fails to pass even a minimal degree of scrutiny, there is no need to determine whether, given the nature of the interests involved and the degree to which they are affected, the application of a more heightened scrutiny would be appropriate.

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