California has long been a beacon of diversity and a welcoming home for religious minorities. Indeed, countless state officials have highlighted this public commitment in recent months in challenging President Trump's travel ban. Ahead of his January confirmation, for example, Attorney General Xavier Becerra praised California as “a welcoming state,” and condemned religious discrimination as “antithetical to (our) deepest constitutional values and traditions.”
Despite this pledge of tolerance, however, one large group of believers stands to be shut out: Sabbath observers. Absent immediate attention from these same state officials, those who faithfully observe the ancient practice of abstaining from work on the Sabbath will remain unwelcome from working as correctional officers in the largest prison system in the country.
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