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An Oregon man's driver's license picture has become the focal point of a constitutional rights case study.
He goes by the name Bishop, and he says he wears a fox hat to honor his religion.
"I'm a practitioner of the Seven Drums religion," Bishop said. "It's one of the (Native American) Nez Perce religions where we all have a wild animal totem."
Bishop says his animal is a fox, so he wears the hat as a symbol of that spirit wherever he goes.
The DMV office let him wear it when he took his new license picture. However, the application was denied, leaving him without a license for nine months.
"For our facial recognition software to work, we need people to remove any hat or facial gear that obscures their face," a spokesman for the DMV said.
Bradley Steinman, Bishop's lawyer, helped him resolve the case.
"Religious freedom is one of the foundational principles of the United States," Steinman said. "It's one of the things that makes our country the greatest country on the earth."
Bishop said his religious freedoms were violated, so he decided to fight back. He eventually won his appeal, but now he wants to warn others to stick up for their rights no matter what it takes.
"It shouldn't matter if you wear a yarmulke or a hijab or 'a silly fox hat,' as the man at the DMV wants to call it," Bishop said.
