Supporters of the "burkini," a full-body, wetsuit style swimming garment traditionally worn by Muslim women, got some good news this week as French mayors begin to defy the court by refusing to enforce the ban. In a trial case this week, the French State Council of the resort Villeneuve-Loubet ruled that the banning of the swimwear was a "serious and manifestly illegal violation of fundamental freedoms.”

The bans, which sparked a heated political debate on religious freedom, were instituted earlier this summer in the line of France's militant secularism. The country bans any type of clothing considered to represent the oppression of women or spread of Islam, citing its fierce desire to remain secular. The ban is rumored to have been instituted in response to a horrific terror attack in which a truck driver who had pledged his allegiance to radical Islamist group ISIS deliberately drove his truck into a crowd of civilians in Nice on Bastille Day, killing 80. In an interview with French station RTL Radio, Nicolas Sarcozy told reporters that the burkini is "a provocation by an Islam that is political, extreme, and is testing the limits of the republic."

Gil Bernandi, the mayor of a providence enforcing the ban, told interviewers that the beach should be considered an area where everyone can enjoy the weather without the intersection of politics or religious conflict. "The beach is a place to relax, not a place of ideological or religious confrontation. A large black outfit has no place on the beach or in the water. It could be interpreted as a provocation."

However, while some courts are fighting back, most are enforcing the ban. Only time will tell if the ban will stay in place.