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By Mark Sherman Associated Press Thursday February 26, 2015 12:54 AM

WASHINGTON Have you heard the one about the Sikh, the Hasidic Jew, the Muslim and the nun who walked into a job interview?

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito channeled his inner stand-up comic yesterday in indicating that he and most of the court would side with a Muslim woman who showed up for a job interview with Abercrombie & Fitch wearing a black head scarf. She didnt get hired.

Samantha Elauf, the woman at the center of the case about religious discrimination in hiring, was in the courtroom yesterday. The case turns on how an employer is supposed to know that a worker or applicant has religious beliefs that need to be accommodated.

The clothing retailer, based in Columbus, said Elauf cant claim discrimination because she didnt say anything about religion during her interview.

Alito acknowledged that it sounded like he was making a joke in describing interviews with a Sikh man wearing a turban, a Hasidic man wearing a hat, a Muslim woman wearing a hijab and a Catholic nun in a habit. But his point was that employers cant feign ignorance when people appear before them in religious clothing.

Now, do you think ... that those people have to say, We just want to tell you, were dressed this way for a religious reason. Were not just trying to make a fashion statement, Alito said.

Pressed by both conservative and liberal justices, Shay Dvoretzky, an attorney for Abercrombie, said employers would get into trouble if they assumed things about people.

Only Justice Antonin Scalia seemed open to the companys argument. Several of Scalias colleagues said there is an easy way to avoid stereotyping. Tell job applicants what the rules are and ask them, as Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, You have a problem with that?

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Supreme Court shows support for Muslim woman in Abercrombie head-scarf case

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