A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled last week that Debra Gassman, an assistant public defender in Cook County, Ill., can proceed with a lawsuit alleging that her rights were violated when she was ordered to remove a photo of herself during her volunteer service in the Israel Defense Forces.
Gassman filed a complaint against the Illinois county and the public defender’s office in February 2024 after, she said, she was told to remove the photo of herself—holding a gun and standing in front of an Israeli flag—from an area near employee mailboxes. She placed the image there, she said, after Oct. 7 “to raise awareness of what happened in Israel,” per the 2024 complaint.
David Fish, an attorney for Gassman, said that the ruling is a victory for religious expression in public employment.
“Being a Jewish voice in a liberal progressive city like Chicago is not very popular when you stand up for Israel,” he told JNS. “This lawsuit makes the point that because you are viewing Israel as something you’re proud of, that shouldn’t mean you should be treated differently than people who have a different viewpoint.”
Gassman’s lawsuit will move forward into the discovery phase, which will include depositions, according to Fish.
“It’s a shame that the public defender’s office had to treat Gassman differently when what she wanted was to just be able to keep her photo up and display it,” he told JNS. “She never wanted to make a federal case over it.”
“They have decided to spend taxpayer resources defending where the location of a photograph should be,” he added. “We are committed to taking this case all the way to trial.”
