A New Dawn for Muslims: Asserting Their Civil Rights in Post-9/11 America
![handle is hein.journals/stlulj54 and id is 939 raw text is: A NEW DAWN FOR MUSLIMS:
ASSERTING THEIR CIVIL RIGHTS IN POST-9/1l AMERICA
AMANY R. HACKING*
INTRODUCTION
Islam is the fastest-growing religion in America and the world.' Many
scholars predict that Islam will soon become the largest minority religion in the
United States.2 The questions remaining for many Americans: Who are these
Muslims? Where do they fit in American society? For many legal scholars
and attorneys, the questions more specifically are: Where do Muslims fit in our
American legal system? Are their civil rights being protected in post-9/11
America?
In this Article, I will attempt to answer some of these questions. First, Part
I will provide an historical and demographic background of Muslims in
America. Part II will discuss post-9/11 discrimination that Muslims have
faced, and continue to face today. Part III will analyze several key cases that
Muslims have brought in an effort to assert their civil rights. Part IV will
discuss what can be learned from this litigation, and Part V will offer a brief
conclusion.
I. HISTORICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND OF MUSLIMS IN AMERICA
Muslims in America are primarily middle class and mainstream.3 There
are approximately 1.5 million Muslims over the age of eighteen, and 850,000
* Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at Saint Louis University School of Law. The author would
like to thank her research assistant, John Orbe, for his assistance in the preparation of this Article,
and her husband, James 0. Hacking, III, for his tireless support and thoughtful comments.
1. Patricia J. Ponder, Walking a Fine Line-Religious Accommodation for an Increasingly
Diverse Workforce, 49 FOR DEF. 32, 32 (2007); see also Council on American-Islamic Relations,
About Islam and American Muslims, http://www.cair.com/AboutlslamIslamBasics.aspx (last
visited March 29, 2010).
2. Bilal Zaheer, Note, Accommodating Minority Religions Under Title VII: How Muslims
Make the Case for a New Interpretation of Section 701(j), U. ILL. L. REV. 497, 498 (2007).
3. A Pew study found that most Muslims report that a large proportion of their closest
friends are non-Muslim, and that there is no conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in
a modem society. See PEw RESEARCH CTR., MUSLIM AMERICANS: MIDDLE CLASS AND MOSTLY
MAINSTREAM 2 (2007) [hereinafter 2007 STUDY], available at http://pewresearch.org/assetsl
pdf/muslim-americans.pdf. Yet, 47% of those surveyed said they think of themselves first as
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A New Dawn for Muslims: Asserting Their Civil Rights in Post-9/11 America
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