Josephus I said:
I want to put pressure on the High Court to act in the scarf banning thingie. I know I need to file something with the AG. How do I go about this?
Thanks
Josephus
Thanks for your enquiry. The first step would be to find a suitable potential plantiff, namely someone who regularly attended the schools in Nouvelle Acquitaine wearing a headscarf, and had an otherwise good disciplinary record. I guess you are most likely to find this in Hurteau, in the 'Saharan Quarter'. She would have need to have tried to wear a headscarf to school since the ban was announced, or could do so in the near future. The school would have had to have acted in some fashion to enforce the ban, whether sending the student home, or physically attempting to remove the headscarf. If they merely told her to remove it, she should decline on religious grounds, and see how they escalated the matter. It would be helpful if her father accompanied her and someone was filming it on a camcorder, but if not, as long as there are witnesses or a perhaps a letter they sent home with her, that would suffice. She, or rather her guardian(s), would have to be willing to file a complaint, knowing that this would mean hardships in terms of lost privacy, hounding by the media, potential hate mail / death threats, and some risk that actual violence would be attempted against her and family. It would therefore be better if they had a somewhat secure location to live in during the process, and that the father didn't have a business that could be the target for potential retribution. I would say the ideal would be a civil servant who might be able to take a leave of absence, or perhaps simply if they were unemployed. The cost of keeping the family safe during the proceedings could well be higher than the legal bills.
I imagine that if you represent any kind of organization, it should be relatively easy to find someone that fits the above description, but would they be willing to expose themselves to the probably hardships? (OOC: As it involves a NPC, you will have to get approval from a mod.) I am not in a position to conduct that search myself, as the rewards in this case would not seem to be monetary, I cannot afford to take time away from business for a search to dig up a non-renumerative case. Once you have located a suitable plantiff, I would be willing to represent them, on a time and expenses basis. I have not built up that extensive a practice yet, so my rates are reasonable, by legal standards. I am unaware of what organization you represent, or whether it might wish to fund the work on such a case, but if not, perhaps the TIO (Topan Islamic Organization) might be willing to contribute.
I would then file suit on behalf of the plantiff. As it is a constitutional matter, involving conflict between a provincial power (education) and the right of religious expression granted in the charter of rights portion of the constitution, it would have to go to the High Court sooner or later, so hopefully the Attorney General would vet it to go there directly. Based on his comments in the townhall and on his TV show, it seems like he would, but there are no guarantees. Likewise, there are no guarantees concerning the decision of the High Court. Such a case would have merit, but when there is a conflict between two parts of the constitution, the outcome is never certain.
You might find some other attorney that would be willing to take a more abstract approach to this case, suing just about the principle, without a specific plantiff or incident, but there would be risk that the case would be thrown out for lacking proper standing to sue. That would only encourage others to act the restaurants that refused service to patrons in headscarves, which led to at least four deaths. I would not want any similar deaths on my conscience, so I would like to bring as strong a case as possible. The little girl who is willing to come forward may one day be as famous as Rosa Parkes is the United States, but that will be scant comfort when she and her family are enduring the hardships that would undoubtedly accompany this struggle.
Initial consultations like this are always free. I could answer any questions you might have, or if not, please let me know if you find a suitable girl who is willing to act as test case, and the financial backing to see us through the process. And if there is any other way our firm could be of service, please let me know.
