In the case of Goldman v. Weinberger, Dr. S. Simcha Goldman, an Orthodox Jew and commissioned officer in the United States Air Force, was prohibited from wearing his yarmulke while on duty as it violated military dress regulations that only allowed "neat and conservative" religious apparel which did not interfere with military duties or uniformity. He sued Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger arguing this regulation infringed upon his First Amendment rights to freely exercise his religion. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against Goldman in 1986 stating that deference should be given to the professional judgment of military authorities concerning the relative importance of a particular military interest; here being uniformity for discipline and esprit de corps purposes over individual expression of religious beliefs through attire deviation from standard uniforms. The court held that such restrictions were permissible under the Free Exercise Clause because they served a compelling government interest - maintaining discipline within its ranks - which could not be achieved by less restrictive means.

In the dissenting opinion for Goldman v. Weinberger, Justice Brennan argued that the Air Force's uniform regulation infringed upon Dr. Goldman's First Amendment rights to freely exercise his religion. He contended that wearing a yarmulke was not merely an expression of religious belief but a mandated observance in Orthodox Judaism, and thus should be protected under the Constitution. The majority decision failed to apply strict scrutiny - the highest standard of judicial review - when considering whether this infringement on religious freedom was justified by compelling government interest. Instead, they deferred excessively to military judgments about uniformity without sufficient evidence proving its necessity for discipline or morale within ranks. Furthermore, he pointed out inconsistencies in enforcement as exceptions were made for medical reasons and visible hair length differences between genders existed despite supposed importance of visual uniformity.