--- title: Democrats Aim to Change a House Rule to Allow Religious Headwear description: Democrats have proposed a clarification to a 181-year-old rule banning representatives from wearing hats on the House floor. canonical: https://time.com/5458281/democrats-proposed-rule-allow-religious-headwear-house/ author: Alejandro de la Garza article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-18T17:15:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T22:05:07.802Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democrats Want to Change a 181-Year-Old Rule to Allow Religious Headwear in the House og:description: It comes as part of a promise to "restore inclusion and diversity" in the chamber og:url: https://time.com/5458281/democrats-proposed-rule-allow-religious-headwear-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ddeba0f17f6a173/69893f6922fb852334e27341/ilhan-omar.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: 116th Congressional Member-Elect Class Photo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democrats Want to Change a 181-Year-Old Rule to Allow Religious Headwear in the House twitter:description: It comes as part of a promise to "restore inclusion and diversity" in the chamber twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ddeba0f17f6a173/69893f6922fb852334e27341/ilhan-omar.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democrats Want to Change a 181-Year-Old Rule to Allow Religious Headwear in the House > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Nov 18, 2018 5:15 PM UTC  Ilhan Omar (D-MN), leaves with a staff member after the Member-Elect class photo on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Wednesday November 14, 2018. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), leaves with a staff member after the Member-Elect class photo on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Wednesday November 14, 2018.Getty Images  by [Alejandro de la Garza](https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/)  ## Alejandro de la Garza Nov 18, 2018 5:15 PM UTC As they prepare to welcome two newly-elected Muslim women into the 116th Congress, Democrats have proposed a clarification to a 181-year-old rule banning representatives from wearing hats on the House floor. If approved, the new rules would allow lawmakers to wear religious headwear, like hijabs and kippahs, once Democrats take control of the chamber in January. [Representative-elect Ilhan Omar](http://time.com/4620567/ilhan-omar-muslim-refugee-us-legislator/), one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress, wears a headscarf. She was born in Somalia and came to the United States as a refugee. > [](https://twitter.com/ilhanmn/status/1063831710025035779) The proposed rule was co-authored by current House Minority Leader [Nancy Pelosi](http://time.com/5388347/nancy-pelosi-democrats-feminism/), ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee Rep. Jim McGovern and Omar. It comes as part of the Democrats’ new House [rules proposal](https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/politics/democratic-house-rules-proposal/2348/?tid=a%5Finl%5Fmanual) package. The drafted changes promise to “ensure religious expression,” by “clarify\[ing\] in the rules that religious headwear is permitted to be worn in the House chamber.” The current rules, which were [implemented in 1837,](https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1800-1850/The-debate-over-the-rule-to-ban-hats-on-the-House-Floor/) decree that “every member shall remain uncovered during the sessions of the House.” Those rules could be interpreted to disallow Omar from using the head covering she wears as part of her faith. The rule change comes as part of Democrats’ broader promise to “restore inclusion and diversity” in the House. Alongside the clarification on head coverings, Democrats have also proposed to change House rules to explicitly ban LGBTQ+ discrimination and to create an independent office to promote diversity among House staff hires. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5458281/democrats-proposed-rule-allow-religious-headwear-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5458281/democrats-proposed-rule-allow-religious-headwear-house/"},"headline":"Democrats Want to Change a 181-Year-Old Rule to Allow Religious Headwear in the House","datePublished":"2018-11-18T17:15:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T22:05:07.802Z","description":"It comes as part of a promise to \"restore inclusion and diversity\" in the chamber","url":"https://time.com/5458281/democrats-proposed-rule-allow-religious-headwear-house/","keywords":["Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ddeba0f17f6a173/69893f6922fb852334e27341/ilhan-omar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alejandro de la Garza","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alejandro-de-la-garza/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ddeba0f17f6a173/69893f6922fb852334e27341/ilhan-omar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"116th Congressional Member-Elect Class Photo","caption":"116th Congressional Member-Elect Class Photo","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5458281/democrats-proposed-rule-allow-religious-headwear-house/","name":"Democrats Want to Change a 181-Year-Old Rule to Allow Religious Headwear in the House"}}]}] ```