Sahar Aziz
Expert
Sahar F. Aziz is a Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Social Justice Scholar at Rutgers Law School. Previously she was a Professor of Law at Texas A&M University School of Law; Sahar was also an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center where she developed and taught a new course entitled National Security and Race in a Post-9/11 America. She is the author of The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom (2021, University of California Press). Professor Aziz served as a Senior Policy Advisor for the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2008 to 2009 where she worked on public policy involving the intersection of national security and civil rights. Professor Aziz led various roundtables between government officials and community groups to foster constructive dialogue and mutual trust among stakeholders. Prior to joining DHS, Professor Aziz was an Associate at Cohen Milstein Sellers and Toll PLLP where she litigated class action civil rights lawsuits alleging a nationwide pattern and practice of gender discrimination in pay and promotion. She started her legal career as an Associate at Wilmer Hale where she conducted an independent human rights investigation on child trafficking in the Middle East.
Education
MA, Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas; JD, University of Texas School of Law
Areas of Expertise
- National Security and Counterterrorism
- Civil Rights
- Rule of Law in the Middle East
- Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians in the West
- Employment Discrimination
- Race and the Law
Publications
Opposing the Rise of State-Sponsored Islamophobia
Trump’s electoral victory exposed our deep divisio
25 May, 2017
Trump’s Speech: How’d He Do?
Sahar Aziz: Solidarity with his far-right, anti-Mu
01 March, 2017Lone Wolf Terrorism and Anti-Minority Legislation
Rise of Lone Wolf Terrorism and Anti-Minority Legi
02 March, 2015The Fallacy of the Colorblind Narrative in Voting Rights
Decades after passage of the historic Voting Right
17 November, 2013Egypt’s Protracted Revolution
Egypt’s revolution did not end on February 11, 201
14 November, 2013Egypt’s Impeachment Alternative
The violence Egypt experienced this summer brings
31 October, 2013Authoritarians Return to Run Egypt
Last week’s announcement by Egypt’s military that
19 September, 2013Sinai: Tipping Point or Pretext for Ouster?
Much of the analysis on the causes for the militar
12 September, 2013Sinai’s Role in Morsi’s Ouster
Morsi’s soft approach to security in the Sinai ali
20 August, 2013Egypt’s Identity Crisis
What started as a political battle for power betwe
07 August, 2013U.S. Foreign Aid and Morsi’s Ouster
The United States government announced last week t
31 July, 2013Six Lessons for Egypt
Egyptians have made more history in the last two y
05 June, 2013Focus on Bombing Victim’s Message of Peace
Now that the Boston Marathon bombing suspects have
23 April, 2013Our Values Must Unite Us after Tragedy in Boston
Like millions of Americans across the nation, my h
15 April, 2013Egypt’s War of Attrition
Egypt is in a tug-of-war between old and new force
07 April, 2013The Depths of a ‘Sorry Vein of Racial Prejudice’
When Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a sc
20 March, 2013Paradoxes of Community Policing in Counterterrorism
Over the past few years, federal officials have ex
27 February, 2013Egypt’s Corruption Woes
Upon taking office, President Mohamed Morsy vowed
08 February, 2013Egypt and Other Arab Democracies Will Not Survive without including More Women
The Arab revolutions, and their aftermath, are a t
12 December, 2012Freedom Means Being Able to Wear the Veil, Too
In October, in a blatant act of discrimination, a
05 December, 2012Egypt’s Constitutional Drafting Process Shows a Diverse Population Ready for Democracy
“Egyptians are not ready for democracy” — this was
21 November, 2012Federal Civil Rights Engagement with Arab and Muslim American Communities Post 9/11
Written Testimony of Sahar F. Aziz, Associate Prof
09 November, 2012
The Muslim “Veil” Post-9/11: Rethinking Women’s Rights and Leadership
In the post-9/11 era, Muslim women donning a heads
01 November, 2012Anti-Muslim Extremist Video Calls for Counter-Narrative by Mainstream Americans
Many Americans would agree that a video portraying
20 September, 2012Creeping Counterterrorism: From Muslims to Political Protesters
Few Americans are surprised to hear that 9/11 shif
24 August, 2012As Army and Brotherhood Tussle, Egyptians Look to the US as Guarantor
Call it a coup d’etat. Call it a legal maneu
22 June, 2012If High Court Upholds Arizona’s SB 1070, Priests and Rabbis Could Be Prosecuted for Providing Humanitarian Aid
On April 25, 2012, the US Supreme Court heard oral
21 June, 2012Selective Counterterrorism Practices Threaten Social Mobility of American Muslims
At the Brookings’ U.S. Islamic World Forum i
15 June, 2012To Stop Corruption, Egypt Needs a Freedom of Information Law
Egypt is undergoing a period of enormous promise a
23 May, 2012Does Radical Feminism Advance Arab Women’s Rights?
Last week, Mona Eltahawy triggered a polemic fires
01 May, 2012Sahar Aziz on the Tarek Mehanna Case: The Marc Steiner Show
Sahar Aziz, an Associate Professor at Texas Wesley
24 April, 2012Tarek Mehanna: Punishing Muslims for Free Speech Only Helps Al Qaeda
On April 12 the United States government successfu
19 April, 2012Written Testimony before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
ISPU Legal Fellow Sahar Aziz was invited to testif
20 March, 2012Racial Profiling by Law Enforcement Is Poisoning Muslim Americans’ Trust
In the same week, a Moroccan 29-year-old man was c
21 February, 2012Soccer, Egypt, and SCAF-Sponsored Hooliganism
Across the world, soccer occupies a sacred space t
10 February, 2012The Importance of Muslim Women in Counter-Terrorism
In December 2011, Janet Napolitano testified that
20 January, 2012The Contradictions of Obama’s Outreach to American Muslims
On the same day that Rep. Peter King held the four
19 December, 2011Rule of Law, Not Rule by Law for Egypt
Egypt is forever changed. Whether ruled by a civil
26 November, 2011Time to Address Violence against Muslim Women
Late last year, a Staten Island woman and her todd
02 November, 2011What’s behind the Egyptian Military’s Attacks on Civil Society?
In recent weeks Egypt’s interim military rul
18 August, 2011
Citizens, Not Subjects: Debunking the Sectarian Narrative of Bahrain’s Pro-Democracy Movement
While President Obama’s Middle East speech on May
31 July, 2011It’s Time to Take Back Our Civil Liberties
It took the United States government nearly 10 yea
22 May, 2011
Countering Religion or Terrorism: Selective Enforcement of Material Support Laws against Muslim Charities
The American government’s preventive counterterror
19 March, 2011Since When Has Democracy Been the Antithesis of Stability?
Much of the discourse on the Egyptian revolution p
10 February, 2011Why Isn’t Jared Lee Loughner a Homegrown Terrorist?
How many more members of Congress have to be victi
12 January, 2011Turning Our Back on Religious Freedom Hurts All Americans
The political backlash and opportunism surrounding
24 August, 2010Delegitimizing Civil Society: Why the Supreme Court Got It Wrong in Humanitarian Law Project
(American Constitution Society) Days before Secret
16 July, 2010Ease Restrictions on Charitable Giving
(CNN) — A year ago on June 4 in Cairo, Egypt
04 June, 2010Protecting Speech, Preserving Charity
The American Constitution Society) The U.S. Supre
02 April, 2010Free Muslims from Collective Punishment
(Search for Common Ground News Service) – Th
16 February, 2010
Other Articles & Talks
The Hamline Controversy and the Real Threat to Academic Freedom
Confronting Liberal Islamophobia
Judge Brown Jackson and America’s moment of racial reckoning
The Power of Language in Combating Islamophobia
What’s Causing the Shift in US Public Opinion on Israel?
Book Review: Stamped From the Beginning – The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
How Trump Is Using Coronavirus to Push His White Nationalist Election Agenda
Anti-Asian Racism Must Be Stopped Before It Is Normalised
Israel’s Tlaib-Omar Ban Enacts a Signature Practice of Non-Democratic States
U.S. Leadership Needed on Syrian Refugee Crisis
Calls to Ban the Muslim Brotherhood Aim to Criminalise US Muslim Dissent, Not Counter Terrorism
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib Show Muslim Women Don’t Need Saving
Stop Abusing State Power to Quash Palestinian Activism on Campus
Supreme Court Blesses Trump’s Muslim Ban, Undermines Religious Liberty
Lessons to Learn from Terrorist Attack in New York City
With Democratization Comes More Religious Freedom and Less Terrorism
Trump’s doublespeak in Saudi Arabia
Trump’s Authoritarian Administration
De-securitizing counterterrorism in the Sinai Peninsula
Trump’s Immigrant Ban Part of a Long, Sad Tradition
MozFest Speaker Series: Surveillance and Privacy Online
Don’t Let Terror Divide LGBTQ, Muslim Communities
Breaking the Ultimate Glass Ceiling
Countering Violent Extremism Coming to a Church Near You
Scholars: Trumps’ Call to Ban Muslims is UnAmerican
Don’t Collectively Punish Muslims
Identifying the Wrong Culprit for Terrorism
Fourteen Years After 9/11 – Are We Safer?
Selected Scholarly Work
The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom
The Authoritarianization of U.S. Counterterrorism
A Muslim Registry: The Precursor to Internment?
Policing Terrorists in the Community
Caught in a Preventive Dragnet: Selective Counterterrorism in a Post-9/11 America
Protecting Rights as a Counterterrorism Tool: The Case of American Muslims