Is there something wrong with expanding the discussion to nail down exactly what it is that you're proposing?
And don't get me wrong, I have no doubt that the Supreme Court could be perfectly willing to push aside the 1st Amendment based on some contemporary concern.
It's not clear how you think I'm "changing the parameters of the discussion" here. I didn't mention banning hijabs. Is it an objection to considering both burkas and niqabs together? I didn't include niqabs because including them would somehow help my argument, I did so because we can't really have a discussion at all if we're limiting ourselves to people who wear true burkas in the West. Besides, when most Westerners think of the burka, they think of a full veil, or niqab, not the unusual netting-over-eye garment that is the burka. Most existing and proposed "burka bans" ban both niqabs and burkas. Studies on the subject often lump them together.
But, sure, if you want, let's talk about nothing but the burka. Let's start by finding some actual statistics that support your arguments. Unfortunately for you, it's genuinely difficult to find any examples at all of women wearing true burkas in the West, so statistics are in short supply. To give you an idea:
A 2009 study found that 0.04% of French Muslim women wear niqab or burka (they were grouped together, as usual). That's not a typo, I really mean four hundredths of one percent, about 367 people total per the report. And burkas are the significantly less common of the two garments.
I mean, seriously, not even ISIS is requiring women to wear the burka, they're enforcing niqab wearing.
What would make you think that Muslim women who wear burkas would be unwilling to adhere to security measures at airports? I've read multiple places that they're perfectly willing to remove their veils at security checkpoints, although oftentimes they prefer to do so in private and with only women around, if possible. Having both men and women working security checkpoints at airports is already part of standard procedure. And health reasons? It seems that you're just reaching for justification now. (And lawyers are indeed trained to throw whatever they can find against the wall to see what sticks, but I fail to see the significance of that.)
I'm not sure what makes you think that I just want to talk them out of it, I said that we should "give some teeth to domestic violence investigations." That is
precisely "strict laws and strict enforcement of those laws." It's not a dumb, useless, and quite possibly counter-productive burka ban. It's an actual way to address the real problem.
You've seen "roaming bands of young Muslims" enforcing burka wearing? I'm interested in hearing about it. That said, to support your argument, you'll still need to provide studies, statistics, or
at least examples, although anecdotal evidence is always weak.