I had assumed that this was not an "open container issue." Rather, I
imagine someone getting off a plane from California with a box of wine
or someone getting off an international flight with liquor or wine from
duty free (or special Kosher wine) in an obvious bottle, box, bag, ec.
I assume ALL taxi drivers can refuse to violate an open container law.
Paul Finkelman
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
and Public Policy
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, New York 12208-3494
518-445-3386
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 09/29 1:59 PM >>>
Question. In many states it is illegal to ride in a vehicle with an
open
container, and some (many?) of those statutes prohibit "openly
displaying" alcohol. Assuming for a moment that all of the cab drivers
in question are like the fellow who is quoted (no questions asked
about
what is in a passenger's bag), does the analysis change if the
behavior
to which the cab driver objects is illegal? Does it matter that the
open
container and open display laws are enforced somewhat sporadically?
I understand that this does not answer Paul's other hypos (other than
the kosher wine one, if it is in a bag, which moots the question, I
think). Paul's Buddha hypo strikes me as much more difficult to
resolve
(or escape) than the situation making the news. And I understand that
in
states or places without open container or similar laws (are there
any?)
my inquiry is irrelevant.
After all, a taxi driver can refuse to carry a passenger who is
hauling
a clear plastic bag full of joints, no? Or an uncased rifle.
Jim Maule
Villanova University School of Law
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 9/29/2006 1:07:11 PM >>>
Sounds like Plessy v. Ferguson to me. Separate but equal cabs. No
way.
How far are we willing to take this: what if they say they won't
carry
people who wear a cross a necklace with the Buddha (a pagan symbol for
a
devout Muslim); what about a Chistian cab driver who won't pick up
someone with muslim or sikh garb? It seems to me that this is a civil
rights violation on the part of a common carrier. The Taxi driver
gets
a license to carry peopel from place to place and may not discriminate
on the basis of religion or race or anything else.
How about this:
Orthodox Jew gets in a cab in Minneapolis with a bottle of kosher wine
he has brought back from a trip. It is for his religious observance.
It is Friday an hour before sundown. Cab drivers refuse take him
home
and finally when one arrives that will, it is too late to get home
before sundown.
What if the cab driver is a member of an Aryan Identity church and
won't take black patrons?
The whole thing sounds unconstitutional and racist; common carriers
have an obligation to accept all passengers. Otherwise they are not
common carriers.
Paul Finkelman
Albany Law School
Paul Finkelman
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
and Public Policy
Albany Law School
80 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, New York 12208-3494
518-445-3386
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 09/29 12:31 PM >>>
The color coding sounds like a pretty good accommodation to me.
http://www.startribune.com/789/story/709262.html ...
About three-quarters of the 900 taxi drivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport are Somalis, many of them Muslim. And about
three
times each day, would-be customers are refused taxi service when a
driver sees they're carrying alcohol.
"It's become a significant customer-service issue,"
said Patrick Hogan, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports
Commission, on Thursday.
Now the airports commission has a solution:
color-coding the lights on the taxi roofs to indicate whether a driver
will accept a booze-toting fare. The actual colors haven't been
decided
on yet, but commission officials met Thursday with representatives of
the taxi drivers and the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American
Society to continue working on the plan.
The airports commission has struggled with the issue for several
years.
Alcohol is a serious concern for devout Muslims, said Hassan Mohamud,
an
imam and vice president of the society. The Qur'an, Islam's holy book,
strictly forbids buying, selling, drinking or carrying alcohol.
The observant drivers object only to transporting openly displayed
alcohol, said Ali Culed, a Somali Muslim who's been driving an airport
cab for eight years. They won't search passengers or quiz them about
what's in their bags.
"It is a religious issue," Culed said. "I cannot force anybody to
change
their belief, but not in my cab. I don't want the guilt. I just want
to
be an innocent person."
Hogan said taxi starters at curbside will look for duty-free bags with
bottles or other obvious signs of alcohol and steer riders to cabs
whose
drivers don't object to booze....
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