WASHINGTON, March 31 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The U.S. Justice Department filed on Tuesday, March 30, a court complaint against Oklahoma education authorities in support of an 11-year-old Muslim girl who was twice suspended from school for wearing hijab to class.

"We certainly respect local school systems' authority to set dress standards, and otherwise regulate their students, but such rules cannot come at the cost of constitutional liberties," Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Alexander Acosta said in a statement.

The department maintained that the Muskogee Public School District's dress code banning hijab amounts to religious discrimination, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"No student should be forced to choose between following her faith and enjoying the benefits of a public education," Acosta stressed.

"Religious discrimination has no place in American schools," he added.

The complain accused the school district of violating the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment which bars states from applying dress codes in a discriminatory manner.

The justice department also pressed for revising the dress code policy.

It would be more than six months before the trial is scheduled to begin in Muskogee, seat of the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) praised the government's support in the case, the CNN said.

"This move comes in a time when the Muslim community feels like they are being singled out and their civil rights threatened," a statement from the group said.

"The news also sends out a message to the international community, especially some European countries where the wearing of the head scarf is being banned, that America will defend its citizens' religious freedoms," it added.

However, lawyers for the Muskogee School District filed a motion challenging the justice department’s complain, reported AFP.

"Our dress code is enforceable as a matter of law," said DD Hayes, the school district's attorney.

He said the school district did not have a chance yet to review the federal government's intervention.

Hayes insisted that there "is no federal right to wear religious attire" in schools.

"We are in compliance with federal guidelines from the Department of Education.

"If they want to change their guidelines, I am reasonably sure we would change our dress code," he concluded.

The school’s decision to suspend the girl triggered an outcry from several heavy weight national rights groups who slammed the suspension as a violation of the students' rights to free practice of religion.

The school authorities eventually relented, allowing Hearn to return to class wearing her hijab in October 2003 but the local authorities stood firm on their dress code policy, which bans all forms of headgear.