Law Banning Headscarves "Constitutional" says Court

A law banning female teachers from wearing Muslim headscarves in school is constitutional, according to a report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper on Friday. The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig said all religions were equally affected by the law in the southern state of Baden- Württemberg that forbids any political or religious "outward expressions'' that may "disturb the peace at school,'' the newspaper said. The latest decision follows the ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court last September that female Muslim teachers could not be banned from wearing headscarves as long as there was no law expressly forbidding them. Three of 16 states have since passed such laws, the paper said.