Islam in American Courts: 2007 Year in Review
by Jeffrey Breinholt
Published on January 7th, 2008
History is im****tant. It gives us perspective into modern problems. We
can gain immediate comfort seeing how so many " new" issues have been
considered by courts in the past. As I have written, American court
opinions explain that the threat of Islamic actions against out
nationals is the very reason we have diplomatic assets overseas, and
how al Qa'ida targeted the United States in part because of the
economic sanctions we promoted against Iraq well before our 2003
military invasion. They also show that FBI wiretaps are hardly a new
controversy, nor is the phenomenon of Muslims exploiting charities in
hopes of achieving worldwide domination.
Legal history is particularly relevant to national security and
counter terrorism, and not merely because we are a country governed by
the rule of law. Judicial opinions are interesting because of the
facts they generate. Court cases are an undervalued source of
strategic intelligence about the threats we face from radical Islam
within the U.S. People is this category generally do not advertise
that fact, and being parties in litigation forces them to disclose
more about themselves than they otherwise would. Court opinions give
us a vantage on the goals and methods of people who are not always
willing to be transparent.
The history of Islam in the U.S. courts is not a long one, which is a
good thing. It means this aspect of legal history is easily
digestible. Most of it comes from the last 25 years. We now have
another year under our belts. Which cases from 2007 will future
historians and strategists use to glean trends relevant to American
national security?
As I predicted several months ago, 2007 ended with highest number of
American court opinions involving Islam of any in U.S. history. They
totaled 888 cases (792 federal opinions and 94 state opinions).[1]
While there were plenty of other cases involving Muslims, this search
yields only those cases where Islam is specifically mentioned in the
opinions.
To understand how recent a phenomenon this is - courts mentioning
Islam in their opinions - there were more opinions mentioning Islam in
2007 than there were in all the years in U.S. history prior to 1980,
combined. Viewed by decade - which include only the first eight years
of the current decade - the total number of court opinions involving
Islam looks like this:
The dramatic annual growth in these cases over the last two decades is
illustrated by the following graph. Note that the consistent annual
increase started in 2001, whereas the annual total then was relatively
stable, though larger than the years before 1990.
From the total number of Islam cases in 2007, several can be
eliminated from analysis: cases in which "Islam" or "Muslim" was the
name of one of the parties but not otherwise relevant to the
controversy, cases where the words were in the title of another case
cited by a court, and cases in which the words were part of an analogy
or rhetorical device in an opinion that otherwise does not involve
Islam. This leaves a meaningful universe of relevant 2007 Islam cases
totaling about 750 (mostly federal, with 83 from state courts).
The predominance of federal cases over state cases is driven by three
types of controversies: prison litigation, asylum, and employment,
most of which are brought in federal court.
Most prisoner cases are brought in federal court because they involve
some alleged constitutional violation. The cases in this category
typically involve Muslim prisoners who claim that prison authorities
are not properly respecting their religious preferences. These cases
are not particularly interesting or relevant to national security.
Prisoners have quite a bit of time on their hands, and their
constitutional complaints rarely amount to meritorious claims. In
2007, I counted 280 Muslim prisoner cases (268 federal and 12 state).
They do not offer much insight into how historians will view 2007.
Omitting them from analysis reduces the number of relevant 2007 Islam
opinions to a little less than 500 cases.
Here is a chart showing the classification of the remaining non-
prisoner cases from 2007, both federal and state:
What do we see when we delve into the specific cases within these
categories?
Muslims Claiming Asylum
If prisoner litigation is the most banal aspect of the federal
district judges' jobs, the equivalent for their colleagues on the U.S.
Courts of Appeal are asylum cases. The federal circuit courts hear
direct appeals from adverse judgments from immigration judges, and
these cases are fairly pedestrian, and decided on the basis of facts
in the administrative record. Unlike the prisoner cases, however,
asylum cases are a source of geopolitical intelligence, since they
involve the pur****ted political and cultural climate of home countries
to which aliens fear being forcibly returned. Where the claimant is a
Muslim alien who fears being sent back to his/her Muslim country,
these cases are also a source of some needed political perspective;
they represent a rebuttal to the claim that the United States is not a
force of good in the Muslim world. In these cases at least, individual
Muslims view the U.S. as their last best hope, and they rely on
American legal procedures offered to them to establish this fact.
As I predicted last fall, 2007 generated the highest number of asylum
cases involving Islam than any year in U.S. history - 212 opinions.
About half these cases involved non-Muslim claimants (mainly
Christians and ethnic Chinese) who feared being sent home to
Indonesia, the world's most populace Muslim country, because of what
they believed would happen to them. However, these cases also included
44 opinions involving Muslim claimants. (These cases are listed in
chronological order in Appendix A) This total is down from the number
of asylum opinions involving Muslim claimants in 2005 and 2006 (55 and
56 cases, respectively). Despite this drop-off, the figure raises the
obvious question: if U.S. foreign policy is truly creating enemies in
the Muslim world, as so many now claim, why do so many Muslims prefer
to stay in the U.S. rather than be forced home?
The big source country for the 2007 Muslim claimants was Pakistan (12
cases) followed by Bangladesh (six). Each is a Muslim country. Stay
tuned. The recent assassination of Benizar Bhutto probably ****tends an
increase in Pakistani asylum claims in 2008. Once again, the U.S. will
find itself picking up the pieces of some broken part of the Muslim
world, by having these cases heard by our most prestigious courts.
This is a consequence you are likely to hear about in the news
accounts of the murder.
Of course, not all of these Muslim asylum claims are premised on
accurate facts, nor is asylum granted by the courts frequently. Of the
44 opinions, 35 were affirmances of the immigration courts' denial of
the asylum claim, while nine were remanded back to the immigration
judge. In one 2007 opinion, a Somalian was prosecuted in Tennessee for
false statements made in his asylum claim.[2] The significance of
these cases is not their result, but that we offer a judicial means
for Muslims who fear being sent home to their home countries, through
a process which arguably goes beyond what is required by international
law.
Muslim Employment Discrimination
Muslim employment discrimination cases were at an all-time high in
2007: 69 cases (65 federal and four state). They are listed in
Appendix B, which includes the job in question and the courts'
decisions. Prior to 2007, the biggest year was 2006, with 57 Muslim
employment decisions. As I have noted in another article, this trend
is inexplicable, because Muslim employment discrimination cases are
generally losers. Nevertheless, they keep on being filed, in
increasing numbers. If these cases are taken on a contingency-fee
basis, there are bound to be some very disappointed plaintiffs'
lawyers at the end of the day.
Of these 2007 employment cases, only one involved a victory for the
Muslim plaintiff.[3] In fact, in U.S. history, there are only about a
dozen cases in which the court issued a final verdict in favor of
Muslim plaintiffs in religious employment discrimination cases, and
this figure is generous. History suggests that cases that were not
dismissed in 2007 eventually will disappear, since they so rarely
result in a verdict for the Muslim plaintiff, at least when judged by
the available judicial opinions. In other words, cases on Appendix B
that are currently listed pending are likely to be dismissed
eventually. Is it about time to ask why lawyers are taking these
cases?
Perhaps they are not taken on a contingent-fee basis. A review of the
2007 Muslim employment discrimination cases (Appendix B) shows a large
number of claimant from the white collar professions: a lawyer, a
pharmacist, a doctor, a pilot, engineers, several cor****ate executives
and university professors. Maybe these plaintiffs can afford to pay
their lawyers by the hour, which make them more attractive clients.
Several Muslim plaintiffs, however, were government employees,
including those employed in law enforcement and national security and
public safety positions. It would be disturbing if the legal expenses
for these cases were borne by foreign governments or organizations,
something that would not be apparent from the litigation file or the
opinions.
Criminal Prosecutions
Next time someone claims that American prosecutors never win terrorism
cases, or that Muslims are not more likely to be terrorists than other
ethnic enclaves, recommend that they to visit a law library, where
they will find several published 2007 opinions in the case books where
Muslims were successfully prosecuted for conduct related to
religiously-inspired violence.[4] This past year also generated
opinions in cases of this type that remain pending.[5] It cannot be
said that it is impossible for the criminal justice system to
incapacitate terrorists. The year 2007 also saw individual Muslim
defendants doing nasty things short of terrorism: rape,[6] child rape,
[7] lewd acts with a child,[8] visa fraud,[9] drug dealing,[10] gang
violence,[11] murder,[12] a violent shooting,[13] and domestic
violence.[14] The only reason these opinions are "Muslim" cases are
because Islam was injected into the court proceedings or was part to
their factual record.
The year 2007 also saw several criminal cases that illustrate a
phenomenon I have described in other articles as the "I am a Muslim"
defense: individuals who claim that their conduct is excusable because
they were following religious dictates or because their Islamic faith
necessarily meant they were of good character.[15] A version of this
strategy is in play in those cases where the defendants claim they
were inappropriately selected for prosecution because they were
Muslim, an argument that consistently fails.[16]
The 2007 cases include Muslim defendants who used their religion as a
stalking horse, claiming that it was prosecutorial misconduct for the
jury to be exposed to any reference to it, as if it is sacrosanct,
even if arguably relevant to the case.[17] The most unscrupulous
version of this tactic involved the intentional injection of Islam as
a defense, followed by the claim that it was unfair for the
prosecution to counter it, as occurred in one 2007 case.[18]
A particularly insightful (and amusing) criminal case from 2007 dealt
with a Philadelphia bank robbery, where the male assailants dressed as
Muslim women, in clothing they knew would minimize their chance of
being identified.[19] That they relied on this tradecraft cuts against
any argument that the government should eagerly accommodate this style
of religious clothing in such processes as issuing driver's licenses.
I found only three opinions in 2007 that referred to violence inspired
by anti-Islam animus.[20] The small volume of these cases is
surprising, and cuts against the notion that the U.S. has a major anti-
Muslim hate crime problem. If they incidents are as widespread as the
Muslim civil rights organizations claim, they are somehow eluding
judicial opinions.
Libel and Slander
This past year saw a number of cases which continue the tradition I
described (and decried) in another article of Muslims suing non-
Muslims for defamation. I have yet to find a single case in U.S.
history where a Muslim plaintiff prevailed in this type of case. The
closest one arose about 20 years ago in New York when a tabloid that
published a 1984 article about the artist formerly known as Cat
Stevens unsuccessfully sought indemnification from the Italian
magazine that sold them the information. The court opinion in that
case described how Stevens, who now calls himself Yusuf Islam, had
obtained a settlement from The Globe.[21] This settlement was odd,
because the allegations in the article that Stevens/Islam objected to
- his conversion to ****'a and his fealty to Ayatollah Khomeini - were
less embarrassing than his subsequent public sup****t for the Khomeni-
issued fatwa against fellow artist Salman Rushdie. Looking back on it,
the article was probably accurate, and The Globe probably settled too
readily. After all, truth is a complete defense.
In 2007, I found five defamation cases involving Muslim plaintiffs,
and they tended to involve law enforcement. A Muslim woman who was
arrested as she attempted to cash a suspicious ca****er's check at a
bank sued the bank for slander, for its act of calling the police to
investigate.[22] A person in trouble with the law in western
Pennsylvania claimed that local law enforcement officials defamed him
by privately referring to him as the "gay Muslim serial killer."[23]
The family of a 16-year old Muslim girl in Davis, California arrested
for hit-and-run, sued the county for defamation, based on the
sheriff's written response to a civilian oversight board re****t
undertaken because of the public outcry over the arrest.[24] A
Brooklyn Muslim leader (who, incidentally, was named as an unindicted
co-conspirator in the 1990s Sheik Rahman prosecution) sued the leader
of the Guardian Angels, a private vigilante group, for claiming that
he was involved in arms trafficking in Canada.[25] A Muslim FBI agent
sued ABC and Fox News for stories it ran about the allegations that
the agent refused to wear a wire in an investigation targeting Muslim
subjects.[26]
The 2007 cases involving Muslim libel seem part of a larger effort to
control the flow of inconvenient information, and they are remarkable
within defamation law because they focus so much on information that
is necessary for government functions. We have seen this is in earlier
years, where Muslim employees sued their employers for discrimination
and included slander counts based on statements the employer made
about the employee's job performance to the government entity
responsible for investigating whether discrimination occurred.[27]
That dynamic was very much present in the 2007. Where American law
enforcement depends on private citizens to re****t illegal activity,
those citizens are now apparently fair game to Muslims who find
themselves under investigation. The goal seems to be to make people
think twice before undertaking their civic duty. It is a bad sign.
Sometimes, efforts to control speech are styled as anti-discrimination
actions rather than defamation. A Muslim man in Texas filed a
frivolous lawsuit challenging a Christian minister's (and President
Bush's) use of the term "Islamo-fascist," alleging that it was a civil
rights violation.[28] Local fair housing councils in California sued
the operator of online roommate-matching website, alleging that the
website violated Fair Housing Act (FHA) and state laws by permitting
powting which expressed a preference not to have Muslim men as
roommates. The court found this action barred by the Communications
Decency Act.[29]
This year also saw cases in which conservative student clubs came
under fire for discussing Islamic terrorism and human rights in Muslim
countries, where the speech was characterized as violations of school
conduct codes.[30]
Constitutional Claims and Challenges to Government Operations
If the Muslim libel cases are designed to control the flow of
information, the same goal was explicitly behind the litigation in
which Islamic advocacy organizations sought a declaratory judgment and
permanent injunction against U.S. agencies' practice of entering and
disseminating civil immigration information to state and local
enforcement officials through National Crime Information Center (NCIC)
database.[31] Meanwhile, when the threatened speech emanates from
Muslims organizations, First Amendment values are generally used as a
sword, as in the challenge to the constitutionality of the permit
process that was a prerequisite to anholdin g anti-war protest on
national park land,[32] and in the litigation to force U.S. officials
to permit Swiss Muslim academic Tariq Ramadan's entry into the United
States.[33]
Muslim challenges to law enforcement in 2007 were not limited to
efforts to stop the flow of information. Individual Muslims challenged
their border stops,[34] search warrants executed on their homes,[35]
the freezing of their bank accounts,[36] their being pulled off a
domestic flight because of complaints by fellow passengers,[37] their
prosecution for not paying child sup****t,[38] their investigation for
identity theft,[39] their arrest for immigration violations,[40] the
eviction from their apartment,[41] and the constitutionality of the
PATRIOT Act amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act[42] and of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System
(NSEERS) program.[43] Muslim organizations designated under the
terrorist financing-related executive orders challenged the decision.
[44] The vast majority of these cases were dismissed in favor of the
government.[45]
Muslims who sought their release from immigration detention through
writs of habeas corpus failed little better, succeeding once, while
losing three times.[46] A Muslim from Serbia-Herzegovina lost his
effort to prevent his extradition.[47] One U.S. detainee succeeded in
reversing the denial of his habeas corpus petition, which challenged
his detention as an enemy combant, and his case was remanded for more
specific findings relating to his detention status.[48]
The challenge to government operations extended to the judiciary. A
Muslim litigant sought disqualification of the judge, claiming he was
prejudiced against Muslims.[49] Another claimed judicial
discriminatory conduct because he was a Muslim, and sought $ 5 billion
in punitive damages.[50] A person who lost a breach of contract
lawsuit challenged the verdict, claiming that the jury was prejudiced
against him because he was a Pakistani Muslim.[51] All lost.
The strangest Muslim lawsuit against the government in 2007 was filed
in Oregon by Samir Taha. He alleged that the CIA and President Bush
engaged in unlawful wiretapping, that he has been spied upon by the
CIA and subject to illegal wiretaps since 1983, and that he
experienced racial and religious discrimination in a variety of ways.
He asserted that the CIA and certain unidentified "Jewish
organizations" conspired with ****tland State University (PSU) and
Vergil Miller (the former Dean of PSU's business school), to "destroy"
his academic standing, deny him entry into a masters degree program,
and blacklist him with potential employers. He claimed that the CIA
conspired with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to "freeze"
his citizen****p application for approximately seven years, ending in
1993 when he became a U.S. citizen. The alleged conspiracy continued
in 2001 and 2002, when the CIA contacted IOS, his leasing company, and
convinced IOS to change the terms of his lease and force him out of
business. He claimed that the CIA convinced his accountant to falsify
his tax return, convinced Wells Fargo to close his bank accounts,
blocked his efforts to refinance his home, and somehow caused lenders
to charge him high interest rates. He claimed that he suffered a
stroke because of the stress brought about by the CIA's interference,
and that his recent attempt to open a restaurant either failed or was
frustrated because the CIA had wiretapped his telephones and scared
his customers away. He contended that the CIA has conspired with
Jewish organizations and had taken these actions in violation of the
Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act
(FISA) because he is an Arab Muslim. This case was dismissed.[52]
Similarly, one mentally ill Muslim man unsuccessfully challenged his
civil commitment, claiming he had been tortured by the police.[53] A
West Virginia man sued doctors, claiming that they hate him because he
was a Muslim and that he was denied certain unspecified medications
unless he agreed to sign "a drug contract from the Drug Enforcement
Agency."[54] I should note that the 2007 Islam cases included
litigation initiated by apparently delusional non-Muslims who feared
that Muslims were conspiring against them.[55]
Private Terrorism Lawsuits
Meanwhile, private lawsuits against Islamic terrorists - which have
been on the increase - were generally successful. The year 2007 saw
four default judgments entered against Iran for various state-
sponsored acts of terrorism.[56] Private plaintiffs also successfully
sued Sudan for al Qa'ida terrorism.[57] The lawyers representing
various bank sued for helping facilitate Islamic terrorism have failed
so far in their efforts to get these cases dismissed, and the cases
remain pending.[58] These private terrorism cases have included
lawsuits involving Muslim victims. Persons abused in Nigeria and
dislocated in Indonesia sued two American oil companies, and those
cases are pending.[59]
One terrorism case against Iran was dismissed, based on the court's
finding that the plaintiff lacked standing.[60] The torture lawsuit
filed on behalf of aliens detained by the U.S. military in Iraq and
Afghanistan was dismissed.[61] An individual Pakistani unsuccessfully
sued another Pakistani he had hired to care for his elderly mother,
after she was kidnapped and died in captivity.[62] Persons allegedly
tortured by the royal family of Abu Dhabi failed in their lawsuit.[63]
In the waning days of 2007, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
reversed the verdict that American victims of Hamas terrorism in
Israel had obtained against several Muslims and Islamic organizations,
and remanded the case back to the district court for more fact-finding.
[64]
Family Disputes
The last category of Islam litigation involved family law - divorce,
custody and estate cases.
The most extreme version of this type of case involved woman who was
convicted of murdering of her Muslim husband in a fit of rage after he
took a second wife.[65] The divorce cases included a Pakistani
polygamist husband who claimed he was entitled to relief because he
had divorced his second wife,[66] and the question of how to deal with
a marriage dissolution under Iranian law.[67] The custody cases
included an Egyptian husband who claimed his wife's sympathy with
terrorism made her an unfit parent,[68] a case in which Black Muslims
were allegedly threatening to take the minor out of foster care,[69]
Muslim parents who objected to their son being placed in foster care
with a Christian family,[70] and the proper name of a child of
divorced Muslim parents.[71] The estate case involved the disposition
of a bank account opened by a deeply religious deceased Jordanian
woman and whether it should be divided equally among her five
daughters - whose lifestyles she opposed - rather than given entirely
to the daughter who was the signatory on the joint account.[72]
In addition to these family law cases, the other more mundane Islam
cases in 2007 involved litigation over the handling of the bodies of
deceased Muslims,[73] a witness' desire to swear the courtroom oath on
a Quran rather than a Bible,[74] a challenge to one party's mentioning
the other's Muslim faith before the jury in a banking dispute,[75] and
couple real estate and zoning disputes.[76]
Conclusion: Want to Bet?
There are some very real lessons from this past year's cases
involving .Islam Of course, there would not be as many prison cases if
we did have so many Muslims convicted of crimes and incarcerated. We
would see fewer Muslim asylum cases if Christians and ethnic Chinese
were not threatened with persecution in Indonesia, or if Muslim
countries were not so broken and inhospitable that their own nationals
would rather throw themselves at the mercy of our courts to avoid
being sent home. How about the Muslims we have here? Far too many are
demonstrably involved in terrorism and more petty crimes. Many law-
abiding Muslims claim discrimination in the workplace, without any
real hope that these claims will succeed successful, and many resort
to frequently-frivolous litigation designed to control how people
express themselves and to frustrate government security efforts.
Is this going to change? Does the New Year ****tend a ****ft in these
trends? Don't count on it. I predict that this time next year, I will
armed with new stories and writing another article describing how 2008
set an all-time high for cases in some of the categories described
above. I hope I am wrong, but I somehow doubt it. Is anyone interested
in a friendly wager on this proposition?
It need not be this way. Despite the insight these cases offer to
national security professionals struggling with the mystery that is
the American-Muslim community, we may someday reach a point when Islam
is no longer relevant to many judicial proceedings. When that happens
- and the "Islam cases" in American courts slow to a trickle - people
like me will be deprived of an object of research, but you will not
hear us complain. It will mean we have succeeded in establi****ng a
society where another ethnic community is fully integrated into the
American dream and realizes that we are all in this together, and that
additional inconveniences must be tolerated as long as we face a
threat from political Islam. At that point, we might focus our days on
the next big problem, maybe Russian mobsters who have achieved a
foothold here. Until that happens, we should continue to mine these
Islam cases for strategic intelligence and insight into today's
challenges.
[1] For those familiar with computerized legal research methods, I
obtained this total by constructing a search of all federal and state
opinions that contain the words "islam," "muslim," or "moslem," or any
variation of these words, which would to capture such terms as
"Islamic" and "Muslims."
[2] U.S. v. Jamal, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2478636 (6th Cir. 2007).
[3] Azimi v. Jordan's Meats, Inc. 473 F.Supp.2d 101 (D.Me.,2007).
[4] U.S. v. Siraj, 468 F.Supp.2d 408 (E.D.N.Y.,2007)(plot to bomb New
York subway system), U.S. v. Aref, Not Re****ted in F.Supp.2d, 2007 WL
603508 (N.D.N.Y.,2007)(plot to procure weaponry for jihadists), U.S.
v. Jayyousi, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 781373 (S.D.Fla.,2007)(recruitment of
Jose Padilla and other jihadists from within the U.S.), U.S. v. Sabir,
Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1373184 (S.D.N.Y.,2007)(conspiracy to provide
medical assistance to Al Qaida fighters), U.S. v. Cousins, Slip Copy,
2007 WL 1454275 (N.D.Ohio 2007)(threat to kill President Bush in the
name of Islam), U.S. v. Hayat, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1454280 (E.D.Cal.,
2007)(jihad training and false denials to the FBI); U.S. v. Abdi, Slip
Copy, 2007 WL 2034403 (S.D.Ohio 2007)(jihad planning). People v.
Ashraf, 151 Cal.App.4th 1205, 60 Cal.Rptr.3d 624 (Cal.App. 3 Dist.,
2007)(assault on a Muslims planning to serve in the U.S. military);
U.S. v. Awan, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2071748 (E.D.N.Y.,2007)(providing
material sup****t to terrorist organization); Muhammad v. State, 177
Md.App. 188, 934 A.2d 1059 Md.App.,2007 (the D.C. Sniper), and United
States v. Hassoun, 2007 WL 4180844 (S.D. Fla 2007)(recruiting Jose
Padilla and other jihadists from within U.S.).
[5] U.S. v. Abdullahu, 488 F.Supp.2d 433 (D.N.J.,2007)(Ft. Dix plot),
U.S. v. Mubayyid, 476 F.Supp.2d 46 (D.Mass.,2007)(allegedly false
statements about jihadist goals by recognized U.S. charity); . U.S. v.
Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, Slip Copy, 2007 WL
1452489 (N.D.Tex. 2007)(alleged material sup****t to Hamas), United
States v. Batiste, 2007 WL 2412837 (S.D. Fla. 2007)(alleged plot to
attack Chicago).
[6] People v. Hafeez, Not Re****ted in Cal.Rptr.3d, 2007 WL 1274226
Cal.App. 4 Dist.,2007 (Muslim rape of another Muslim), State v. El-
Amin, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2216973 (Ohio App. 6 Dist.,2007.)(rape) .
[7] State v. Berakech, 136 Wash.App. 1057, Not Re****ted in P.3d,
(Wash. 2007)(Muslim rape of nine-year old step daughter), Muhammad v.
Attorney General of State of New Jersey, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 602453
(D.N.J.,2007)(kidnapping and rape of 13-year old girl).
[8] People v. Fific, Not Re****ted in Cal.Rptr.3d, 2007 WL 2852648
Cal.App. 3 Dist.,2007 (lewd acts with a child).
[9] U.S. v. Katkhordeh,477 F.3d 624 (8th Cir. 2007),U.S. v. Islam,
Slip Copy, 2007 WL 4373147 (D.Conn. 2007)
[10] People v. Capellan, 17 Misc.3d 337, 844 N.Y.S.2d 578 (N.Y.Sup.,
2007)(drug dealing),
[11] State v. Walker Not Re****ted in N.W.2d, 2007 WL 1892886 Minn.App.,
2007 ((violent activity of Muslim street gang known as Black Stone
Rangers)
[12] Pi*****t v. State, Not Re****ted in S.W.3d, 2007 WL 2683586
Tex.App.-Beaumont,2007 (murder)
[13] Thomas v. People of New York, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2456755
(S.D.N.Y.,2007)(shooting a victim with a gun).
[14] State v. Beasley, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2949521 Ohio App. 8 Dist.,
2007 (domestic violence).
[15] State v. Wakefield, 190 N.J. 397, 921 A.2d 954 (N.J. 2007). U.S.
v. Hamad, 495 F.3d 241 (6th Cir. 2007)., U.S. v. Sokoya, Slip Copy,
2007 WL 4198244 (N.D.Ill.,2007), People v. Lancaster, 41 Cal.4th 50,
158 P.3d 157 (Cal.,2007). State v. Ward, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1556663
(Tenn.Crim.App.,2007).
[16] U.S. v. Ahmed, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2436205 (N.D. Ok. 2007), U.S.
v. Jamal, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2478636 (6th Cir. 2007), Mohamed v.
Florida, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1099063 (N.D.Fla.,2007)m U.S. v. Asaifi
Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1322098 (D.D.C. 2007).
[17] Greene v. Brown, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1589449 (S.D.N.Y. 2007),.
U.S. v. Hugh, 236 Fed.Appx. 796 (3rd Cir. 2007), . U.S. v. Potts, Slip
Copy, 2007 WL 2597402 (E.D.Pa. 2007)., U.S. v. Malik, 241 Fed.Appx.
873 (3rd Cir. 2007), Johnson v. Annetts, . Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1246263
(E.D.N.Y. 2007). Muhammad v. Attorney General of State of New Jersey,
Slip Copy, 2007 WL 602453.
[18] Davis v. Jones, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2873041 (W.D.Mich. 2007).
[19] U.S. v. Coleman, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1462237 (E.D.Pa. 2007).
[20] U.S. v. Patrick Syring, --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2007 WL 4105545
(D.D.C. 2007), State v. Caulley, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 136471 Ohio App.
12 Dist.,2007. Mazloum v. District of Columbia Metropolitan Police
Dept., --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2007 WL 1141581 (D.D.C. 2007). In addition
to these three cases, I found a burglary conviction where the victim
was a Muslim community center. People v. Romayor, Not Re****ted in
Cal.Rptr.3d, 2007 WL 4443865Cal.App. 6 Dist.,2007.
[21] Globe Communications Corp. v. R.C.S. Rizzoli Periodici, 729
F.Supp. 973 (S.D.N.Y. 1990).
[22] Muhammad v. Wa****ngton Mut. F.A., Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1020840
(N.D. Ga. 2007).
[23] Waite v. Beaver County, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 878525 (W.D. Pa.
2007).
[24] Buzayan v. City of Davis Police Dept., Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2288334
(E.D.Cal. 2007).
[25] Wahaj v. Sliwa, 17 Misc.3d 1120(A), Slip Copy, 2007 WL 3120913
(Table) N.Y.Sup.,2007.
[26] Abdel-Hafiz v. ABC, Inc.., --- S.W.3d ----, 2007 WL 3408625
(Tex.App.-Fort Worth,2007), Fox Entertainment Group, Inc. v. Abdel-
Hafiz,--- S.W.3d ----, 2007 WL 3408635 Tex.App.-Fort Worth,2007
[27] See Obu v. Ohio Dept. of Aging, 119 Ohio Misc.2d 131, 774 N.E.2d
812 (Ohio Ct.Cl. 2002)
[28] Smith v. Hagee, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 708606 (W.D.Tex. 2007).
[29] Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommates.com, 489
F.3d 921 (9th Cir. 2007).
[30] College Republicans at San Francisco State University v. Reed,
--- F.Supp.2d ----, 2007 WL 4102280 (N.D.Cal. 2007); Bowler v. Town of
Hudson, 514 F.Supp.2d 168 (D.Mass. 2007)
[31] National Council of La Raza v. Gonzales, 468 F.Supp.2d 429
(E.D.N.Y. 2007).
[32] A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition v. Kempthorne, 493 F.Supp.2d 34 (D.D.C.,
2007)
[33] American Academy of Religion v. Chertoff, Slip Copy, 2007 WL
4527504 (S.D.N.Y. 2007)
[34] Shearson v. U.S. Dept. of Homeland Sec., Slip Copy, 2007 WL
764026 (N.D.Ohio 2007) ; Estate of Belbachir v. County of McHenry Slip
Copy, 2007 WL 2128341(N.D.Ill. 2007); Rahman v. Chertoff, 244 F.R.D.
443 (N.D.Ill. 2007). Rahman v. Chertoff, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2892972
(N.D.Ill. 2007).
[35] Abdul-Khaliq v. City of Newark, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 781663
(S.D.Ohio, 2007), Ladd v. St. Louis Bd. of Police Com'rs, Slip Copy,
2007 WL 3283237 (E.D.Mo. 2007).
[36] Wada v. U.S. Secret Service, --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2007 WL 3341847
(D.D.C. 2007).
[37] Shqeirat v. U.S. Airways Group, Inc., 515 F.Supp.2d 984 (D.Minn.
2007).
[38] Parker v. Cox, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2050814 (E.D.Mich. 2007)
[39] Abdullah v. Fetrow, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2844960 (M.D.Pa. 2007)
[40] American -Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee v. U.S., 516 F.Supp.
2d 83 (D.D.C. 2007)
[41] Stable v. Kelly Towers Associates, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 80866
(S.D.N.Y. 2007)
[42] Mayfield v. U.S., 504 F.Supp.2d 1023 (D.Or. 2007)
[43] Iqbal Ali v. Gonzales, 502 F.3d 659 (7th Cir. 2007).
[44] Islamic American Relief Agency v. Gonzales, 477 F.3d 728 (D.C.
Cir. 2007).
[45] Of these 15 cases, the opinions were victories for the Muslim
plaintiff in Belbachir (motion to compel granted), Wada (dismissal
denied and transfer granted), Shqeirat (summary judgment motion
denied), and Mayfield (summary judgment granted to plaintiff). I
should note that the court in Shqueirat indicated that it might grant
the defendant's summary judgment motion later with additional facts,
and the ruling in Mayfield has been described as an exception to what
other jurisdictions have concluded on the same issue, and has not been
followed. U.S. v. Mubayyid, --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2007 WL 3287393, 100
A.F.T.R.2d 2007-6526 (D.Mass. Nov 05, 2007)
[46] Madrane v. Hogan, --- F.Supp.2d ----, 2007 WL 3145956 (M.D.Pa.,
2007)(habeas granted) Beciraj v. U.S. Dept. of Homeland Sec., Slip
Copy, 2007 WL 2915084 (D.Minn. 2007) (habeas denied), Iqbal Ali v.
Gonzales, 502 F.3d 659 (7th Cir. 2007)(habeas denied). Hussain v.
Mukasey, --- F.3d ----, 2007 WL 4387284 (7th Cir. 2007)(habeas
denied).
[47] U.S. v. Avdic, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1875778 (D.S.D. 2007).
[48] al-Marri v. Wright, 487 F.3d 160 (4th Cir. 2007).
[49] Ware v. Garnett, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2914257 (S.D.Ill. 2007).
[50] James v. Walls, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1582660 (D.N.J. 2007)
[51] McMahon v. Moghul, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 3119621 (D.S.C. 2007).
[52] Taha v. C.I.A., Slip Copy, 2007 WL 4287598 (D.Or. 2007).
[53] In re Civil Commitment of Iverson, Not Re****ted in N.W.2d, 2007
WL 2178064 Minn.App. 2007
[54] Kearns v. Timmiah, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2220506 (N.D.W.Va. 2007).
[55] Kuchay v. Vetter, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 54061 (N.D.Ill. 2007),
Kuchay v. Vetter, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2410333 (N.D.Ill. 2007), Hummasti
v. Ali, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2572168 (D.Or. 2007)
[56] Nikbin v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 471 F.Supp.2d 53 (D.D.C.
2007), Sisso v. Islamic Republic of Iran, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2007582
(D.D.C. 2007), Bennett v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 507 F.Supp.2d 117
(D.D.C. 2007), Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 515 F.Supp.2d 25
(D.D.C. 2007).
[57] Rux v. Republic of Sudan, 495 F.Supp.2d 541 (E.D.Va. 2007).
[58] Strauss v. Credit Lyonnais, S.A., Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2296832
(E.D.N.Y. 2007), Almog v. Arab Bank, PLC, 471 F.Supp.2d 257 (E.D.N.Y.
2007), Weiss v. National Westminster Bank, PLC, 242 F.R.D. 33
(E.D.N.Y. 2007)
[59] Bowoto v. Chevron Corp., Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2349336 (N.D.Cal.
2007), Doe v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 473 F.3d 345 (D.C. Cir. 2007)
[60] Oveissi v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 498 F.Supp.2d 268 (D.D.C.
2007).
[61] In re Iraq and Afghanistan Detainees Litigation, 479 F.Supp.2d 85
(D.D.C. 2007).
[62] Masood v. Saleemi, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2069853 (W.D.Wash. 2007).
[63] Nabulsi v. H.H. Sheikh Issa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Slip Copy, 2007
WL 2126542 (S.D.Tex. 2007).
[64] Boim v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, --- F.3d
----, 2007 WL 4553654 (7th Cir. 2007)
[65] People v. Luu, Not Re****ted in Cal.Rptr.3d, 2007 WL 824449
(Cal.App. 2 Dist. 2007).
[66] Aleem v. Aleem, 175 Md.App. 663, 931 A.2d 1123 Md.App.,2007.
[67] Mir v. Birjandi, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 1934219 Ohio App. 2 Dist.,
2007.
[68] Ahmed v. Haroun, Not Re****ted in N.W.2d, 2007 WL 2177967
(Minn.App. 2007).
[69] In re X.C., Not Re****ted in Cal.Rptr.3d, 2007 WL 1028533Cal.App.
1 Dist. 2007
[70] New Jersey Div. of Youth and Family Services v. F.H., 389
N.J.Super. 576, 914 A.2d 318 N.J.Super.A.D.,2007
[71] Said v. Jegan, 146 Cal.App.4th 1375, 53 Cal.Rptr.3d 661 (Cal.App.
2 Dist.,2007
[72] In re Estate of Balgar, Not Re****ted in A.2d, 2007 WL 1147081
N.J.Super.A.D., 2007
[73] Boyer v. Irvin, Not Re****ted in A.2d, 2007 WL 3119792 (Del.Ch.,
2007), Juseinoski v. New York Hosp. Medical Center of Queens,--- N.Y.S.
2d ----, 2007 WL 3408281 N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept.,2007
[74] American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, Inc. 639 S.E.
2d 136 N.C.App.,2007
[75] Alam v. Wil****re & Scott, P.C., Not Re****ted in S.W.3d, 2007 WL
2011048 Tex.App.-Houston [1 Dist.], 2007.
[76] Congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagodel of Mapleton Park 16 Misc.3d
1103(A), 841 N.Y.S.2d 825 (Table) N.Y.Sup.,2007. David Project Inc..
v. Boston Redevelopment Authority, 22 Mass.L.Rptr. 361, Not Re****ted
in N.E.2d, 2007 WL Mass.Super.,2007, Albanian Associated Fund v.
Town****p of Wayne, Slip Copy, 2007 WL 2904194 (D.N.J.,2007)
(c)copyright 2004.
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