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This contribution seeks to analyse the role of affects and identities in the court process, taking an example from Canadian constitutional law. The decision handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada authorises the niqāb to be worn in front of the Canadian courts in cross-examinations of witness credibility in criminal matters. This authorisation is, however, subject to the possibility of accommodating this sincerely-held belief. In addition to systematising a conflict of fundamental rights, this decision is an important one in that it goes against the decisions handed down by the European courts. However, addressing the role of affects and identities via a comparative approach provides a way of challenging an excessively hasty differential comparison by demonstrating that there is a common patriarchal regulation of the female body and western regulation of the Muslim body. The courts that have heard conflicts revolving around the niqāb, make reference to the same resources in terms of identity, something we will refer to as an affective circulation of the Muslim body.