Testimony from Texas A&M University School of Law Associate Professor Sahar F. Aziz was featured in the latest report issued by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, "Federal Civil Rights Engagement with Arab and Muslim American Communities Post 9/11".
The Commission heard testimony from many scholars and experts in the field to prepare the report that examines “federal efforts to eliminate and prevent civil rights violations, including incidents of hate crimes, prejudice, bias, stereotyping and travel discrimination against Arab and Muslim-Americans spurred by the reactions to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.”
The Commission’s briefing report specifically cites Aziz’s “useful” recommendations in its summary of findings and recommendations as lending “a thoughtful and instructive view to improving the federal agency engagement with the American Muslim community.” (See page 9 of the report.)
Aziz served on a panel made up of scholars who have studied civil rights law, constitutional law, community outreach, federal program planning, and techniques to measure and change biases with respect to the Arab and Muslim American communities. The scholars “addressed the censoring of books and articles, inadequately trained law enforcement agents, insufficient or counterproductive outreach efforts, overemphasis on national security issues, and lack of oversight of engagement programs. They also addressed suppression of First Amendment freedoms of speech and assembly using illegal seizures of written materials and intimidation aimed at critics of Islam,” per the report.
The other scholars on the panel with Aziz included:
- Dr. Jytte Klausen, Lawrence A. Wien Professor of International Cooperation, Brandeis University
- Eugene Volokh, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law
- Sam Rascoff, Faculty Director, Center on Law and Security, New York University School of Law
- Dr. Peter Skerry, Professor of political science, Boston College
About Professor Aziz
Sahar F. Aziz joined the faculty in 2011 as an associate professor of law. Prior to joining, Aziz was an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center where she taught national security and civil rights law. Aziz served as a senior policy advisor for the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) where she worked on law and policy at the intersection of national security and civil rights.
Professor Aziz’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of national security and civil rights law with a focus on the post-9/11 era. Aziz incorporates critical race theory, feminist theory, and constitutional law into her examination of the disparate impact of post-9/11 laws and public policy on ethnic, racial, and religious minority groups in the United States. Aziz analyzes these issues in various contexts including employment, counterterrorism, criminal justice, and civil rights litigation.
View recent articles and papers on her SSRN author page.