July, 11 2014, 04:06pm EDT
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Leading Groups Stand Strong With American Muslims in Appeal of NYPD Spying Lawsuit
Last night, dozens of organizations and individuals representing diverse interests and faiths filed amicus briefs in support of a lawsuit challenging the blanket surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey by the New York Police Department (NYPD). Late last week, Muslim Advocates and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) appealed a federal district court's dismissal of the case, Hassan et al v.
NEW YORK, NY
Last night, dozens of organizations and individuals representing diverse interests and faiths filed amicus briefs in support of a lawsuit challenging the blanket surveillance of Muslims in New Jersey by the New York Police Department (NYPD). Late last week, Muslim Advocates and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) appealed a federal district court's dismissal of the case, Hassan et al v. City of New York, and demanded that the NYPD stop violating American Muslims' rights by targeting them for surveillance.
In one brief, law enforcement officials wrote, "Bias-based policing is not only ineffective, it is counterproductive to law enforcement goals. For law enforcement to function effectively, local police must form bonds with the communities they serve. Bias-based policing methods undermine that goal."
Organizations and individuals that filed amicus briefs include 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, Karen Korematsu, ACLU NJ, MALDEF, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, Police Chief Chris Burbank, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Sikh Coalition, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, AALDEF, Latino Justice, National Council of Jewish Women, the Auburn Theological Seminary, DRUM, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, ADC, and New Jersey Muslim Lawyer's Association.
In another brief, descendants of Japanese Americans who were subject to internment during World War II argued, "The history of the Japanese internment, and the ensuing apologies and atonement of each branch of the United States government, provide twin lessons. First, infringement of rights on the basis of class membership--race in the World War II era, and religion in this case--is not only inherently injurious but can and does produce injury. Second, a proffered military or police exigency, no matter how great, must be subjected to the strictest of scrutiny on the merits rather than accepted at the threshold as the basis for dismissal of an equal protection claim."
"Plaintiffs were spied on, not because of any criminal suspicion whatsoever, but because of their faith --an indisputably unconstitutional basis for police surveillance," said CCR Legal Director Baher Azmy. "The district court's decision effectively allows the City of New York to treat Muslims as second class citizens, and ratifies ugly stereotypes that could upend decades of anti-discrimination law. We hope the Court of Appeals will not let this broad sanction of racial profiling and religious discrimination stand, and we are pleased that so many prominent organizations and individuals are standing with us in the case."
Judge William Martini had dismissed the case in February, ruling in a 10-page summary opinion, without oral argument, that plaintiffs had not suffered harm and that any harm the plaintiffs might have suffered was not the result of the unlawful surveillance program, but of the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting by the Associated Press that exposed it. The court also endorsed the City's argument that its targeting of Muslims on the basis of their faith alone was justified in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. In more than ten years of operation, the City's discriminatory program has failed to unearth a single lead.
"Discriminating against innocent Americans based on their faith is wrong," said Muslim Advocates Legal Director Glenn Katon. "The NYPD has stripped individuals of the freedom to openly practice their faiths, and we hope that this lawsuit will put an end to the discriminatory policies that stand against some of the most important values that led to America's founding."
The Hassan plaintiffs comprise a broad group with diverse backgrounds, and include a decorated Iraq war veteran who currently serves as a US ARMY reservist, Rutgers students, and the former principal of a grade school for Muslim girls.
Since 2002, the NYPD has spied on at least 20 mosques, 14 restaurants, 11 retail stores, two grade schools, and two Muslim Student Associations in New Jersey. The monitoring has included video surveillance, photographing, community mapping, and infiltration. Moreover, internal documents, including a list of 28 "ancestries of interest," reveal that the NYPD used racial and ethnic backgrounds as proxies to identify and target adherents to the Muslim faith. The NYPD recently disbanded one of the main units through which it conducted the surveillance, but advocates say it is clear that discriminatory policing against Muslims has continued.
Read the appeal filing here.
The full list of organizations and individuals that filed amicus briefs is below.
- Amicus Brief of Americans for Separation of Church and State
- Amicus Brief of the Brennan Center
- Amicus Brief of ACLU-NJ et al
- Amicus Brief of Korematsu et al
- Amicus Brief of Reporters Committee
- Amicus Brief of AALDEF et al
- Amicus Brief of Law Enforcement Organizations
- Amicus Brief of Religious Liberty Groups
Or click here to read the amicus briefs.
For more information about the case, please visit www.muslimadvocates.org/endspying and https://www.ccrjustice.org/hassan.
Hassan was initially filed by Muslim Advocates. The Center for Constitutional Rights and Gibbons, P.C. have joined as co-counsel.
List of organizations and groups that filed amicus briefs:
- 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care
- American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
- American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey
- The American Humanist Association
- Americans United for Separation of Church and State
- Arab American Association of New York (AAANY)
- Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
- Asian Americans Advancing Justice -- Asian Law Caucus (ALC)
- The Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey
- The Auburn Theological Seminary
- Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice
- The Bill of Rights Defense Committee
- Brennan Center for Justice
- The Central Conference of American Rabbis
- Chris Burbank (Salt Lake City Chief of Police)
- The Council of Islamic Organization of Greater Chicago (CIOGC)
- Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR)
- DRUM -- South Asian Organizing Center (formerly Desis Rising Up and Moving)
- Eric Adams (Brooklyn Borough President)
- The Garden State Bar Association
- The Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey
- Holly Yasui (Daughter of Minoru Yasui)
- The Hindu Temple Society of North America
- Imam Mahdi Association of Marjaeya (IMAM)
- Interfaith Alliance Foundation
- The Islamic Shura Council of Southern California
- The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
- Jay Hirabayashi (Son of Gary Hirabayashi)
- Karen Korematsu (Daughter of Fred Korematsu)
- Latino Justice PRLDEF
- Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)
- The Muslim Alliance in North America
- Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition (MACLC)
- Muslim Bar Association of New York (MuBANY)
- Muslim Congress
- Muslim Consultative Network (MCN)
- Muslims for Peace
- Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA)
- Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
- The National Council of Jewish Women
- The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC)
- National Lawyers Guild -- New York City Chapter (NLG-NYC)
- National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC)
- The National Religious Campaign Against Torture
- New Jersey Muslim Lawyers Association (NJMLA)
- North Jersey Media Group Inc.
- The Northern California Islamic Council
- Project SALAM (Support and Legal Advocacy for Muslims)
- The Queens Federation of Churches, Inc.
- The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
- The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
- Shia Rights Watch (SRW)
- The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund
- The Sikh Coalition
- South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)
- Ta'leef Collective
- T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
- The Union for Reform Judaism
- The Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey
- The Universal Muslim Association of America (UMAA)
- Universal Muslim Association of America Advocacy (UMAA Advocacy)
- The Women of Reform Judaism
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
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US Voter Registrations Surge as Republicans Try to Limit Ballot Access
One group said it has registered over 100,000 new voters since U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race.
Jul 26, 2024
The group behind a popular get-out-the-vote technology platform said Friday that it's registered more than 100,000 new U.S. voters since President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race, a surge that came amid mounting Republican efforts to make it harder to register and vote.
Vote.org said that 84% of voters registered in the new wave are under age 35. Nearly 1 in 5 new registrees is 18 years old. Andrea Hailey, the group's CEO, said that "since 2020, we have led the largest voter registration drive in U.S. history," with more than 7.8 million people registered.
After dropping out, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to face former Republican President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) in the November election. The new presumptive Democratic candidate has already earned endorsements from many Democrats in Congress and groups advocating on issues including climate, labor, and reproductive rights.
Vote.org's success comes as Republicans at the federal level are proposing and passing legislation creating obstacles to the ballot box.
Earlier this month, U.S. House Republicans passed Rep. Chip Roy's (R-Texas)
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However, Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.)
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Lee said the SAVE Act underscores the need to pass her recently introduced Right to Vote Act, "which would establish the first-ever affirmative federal voting rights guarantee, ensuring every citizen may exercise their fundamental right to cast a ballot."
Earlier this year, U.S. Senate Democrats also reintroduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, legislation its sponsors say will "update and restore critical safeguards of the original Voting Rights Act."
Meanwhile, Republican-controlled state legislatures and red-state governors are enacting laws imposing tough restrictions on voter registration, with violations punishable by stiff fines that critics say are meant to dissuade people from registration drives and similar efforts.
Again under the guise of preventing fraud, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last year signed legislation limiting voter registration drives, with fines of up to $250,000 for violators.
"These draconian laws and rules are like taking a sledgehammer to hit a flea," Cecile Scoon, an attorney and president of the Florida chapter of the League of Women Voters,
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Three years after Kansas passed a law making "false representation" of an election official a crime, campaigners say it's become extremely difficult to sign up new voters.
"In 2020, even with the pandemic, we had registered nearly 10,000 Kansans to vote. Now, we haven't been able to register anyone," Davis Hammet, president of the youth voter mobilization group Loud Light, told the Times.
In Louisiana, Republican state lawmakers quietly passed legislation making it easier for election officials to toss out absentee ballots with missing details, limiting how people can mail in other voters' ballots, and restricting the ability to assist people with disabilities with their ballots.
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In Nebraska, Republican Secretary of State Bob Evnen last week
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Climate and environmental defenders on this week implored U.S. senators to block a permitting reform bill introduced this week by Sens. Joe Manchin and John Barrasso that campaigners linked to Project 2025, a conservative coalition's agenda for a far-right overhaul of the federal government.
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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) noted that although the proposal "includes several positive reforms for the accelerated development of transmission projects," it also advocates "limiting opportunities for communities to challenge projects, loosening oversight for drilling and mining projects, extending drilling permits and fast-tracking [liquified natural gas] permits, and several other provisions friendly to fossil fuel giants."
"This dangerous bill doesn't deserve a floor vote."
These are nearly identical policies to what's proposed in Project 2025's Mandate for Leadership. The plan, which was spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, calls for "unleashing all of America's energy resources," including by ending federal restrictions on fossil fuel drilling on public lands; limiting investments in renewable energy; and rolling back environmental permitting restrictions for new oil, gas, and coal projects, including power plants.
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Both parties in Sudan's civil war are to blame for a looming mass famine, experts say, and the military's blocking of U.N. aid at a border crossing with Chad exacerbates the problem.
Jul 26, 2024
Sudan's military is blocking United Nations aid trucks from entering at a key border crossing, causing severe disruptions in aid in a country that experts fear may be on the brink of one of the worst famines the world has seen in decades, The New York Timesreported Friday.
The border city of Adré in eastern Chad is the main international crossing into the Darfur region of Sudan, but the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the state's official military, which is engaged in a civil war with a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has refused to issue permits for U.N. trucks to enter there, as it's an RSF-controlled area.
U.S. and international officials have issued increasingly alarmed calls for steady aid access to help feed the millions of severely malnourished people in Darfur and other areas of Sudan.
Last week, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States ambassador to the U.N., said that the SAF's obstruction of the border was "completely unacceptable."
Both warring parties in Sudan continue to perpetrate brazen atrocities, including starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. This piece focuses on the SAF's ongoing obstruction of essential aid. The situation is catastrophic. The policy is criminal. https://t.co/FKhqQh3EI9.
— Tom Dannenbaum (@tomdannenbaum) July 26, 2024
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Another mother, Dahabaya Ibet, said that her 20-month-old boy had to bear witness to his grandfather being shot and killed in front of his eyes when the family home in Darfur was attacked by gunmen late last year.
Now the mothers and their families are refugees in Adré, where 200,000 Sudanese are living in an overcrowded, under-resourced transit camp.
In addition to those that have made it out of the country, there are 11 million people internally displaced within Sudan, most of whom have become displaced since the civil war began in April 2023.
An unnamed senior American official told the Times that the looming famine in Sudan could be as bad as the 2011 famine in Somalia or even the great Ethiopian famine of the 1980s.
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