As Eric Rassbach mentioned, the Bush 43 administration brought a number of RLUIPA cases on behalf of Muslim religious groups. More broadly, the Civil Rights Division was given a leading role in the Bush administration’s tried to reach out to Muslim communities (and other groups mistaken for Muslims such as Sikhs) in the aftermath of 9/11. I was in the Civil Rights Division for parts of the Bush and Obama administrations and was proud to play a small part in these efforts.
The Civil Rights Division’s work to defend Muslims’ rights in the years after 9/11 was celebrated in a 2011 conference, which was documented in a report published by the DOJ the following year: https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2012/04/16/post911summit_report_2012-04.pdf. Here are some highlights from the report: - In the first few months after 9/11, DOJ leaders attended more than 100 meetings and events with representatives from the Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian communities. - One of the initiatives that came of these meetings was a “special backlash crime task force,” a team of AUSAs and prosecutors in the Civil Rights Division that was responsible for documenting, investigating, referring, and prosecuting threatened and actual violence against minority religious groups. - In the first few months after 9/11, DOJ investigated more than 350 backlash-related criminal complaints, resulting in more than 70 state and local criminal prosecutions and 12 federal prosecutions. - In the first six years after 9/11, DOJ investigated more than 800 incidents involving violence, threats, vandalism, and arson against Muslims or those perceived to be Muslims. - As to RLUIPA in particular, in the period from 2000 to 2010, 14% of DOJ’s RLUIPA land-use investigations involved mosques or Muslim schools, though Muslims only comprise 1% of the US population (page 11 of the report highlights some of these cases). With Eric Rassbach, I am hopeful that the incoming administration will be as aggressive in reaching out to and protecting the Muslim community as the Bush DOJ was. Eric Eric N. Kniffin Of Counsel 719.386.3017 office 719.386.3070 fax eknif...@lrrc.com<mailto:eknif...@lrrc.com> _____________________________ [cid:image003.png@01D244DD.BC150100] Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie LLP 90 South Cascade Avenue, Suite 1100 Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903-1662 lrrc.com<http://lrrc.com/> From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Eric Rassbach Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 3:24 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Re: New Jersey RLUIPA lawsuit Chip -- I'm afraid I don't have any crystal ball on that. It is my recollection that there were a number of mosque cases brought during the previous Republican administration. One I know about because it was our case was the Albanian Associated Fund mosque case in Wayne, NJ. (New Jersey seems to be a bit of a hotspot on these.) Eric ________________________________ From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu> <religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu>> on behalf of Ira Lupu <icl...@law.gwu.edu<mailto:icl...@law.gwu.edu>> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 4:40 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Re: New Jersey RLUIPA lawsuit I wonder if Eric Rassbach (and others at The Becket Fund, which has commendably and energetically pursued RLUIPA cases on behalf of mosques and Muslim prison inmates) expects such lawsuits, by the DOJ on behalf of those building a mosque, to continue in the next Administration. On Tue, Nov 22, 2016 at 4:15 PM, Eric Rassbach <erassb...@becketfund.org<mailto:erassb...@becketfund.org>> wrote: Thought list readers might be interested in this RLUIPA lawsuit announced by DOJ, on behalf of a mosque in New Jersey: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-files-suit-against-bernards-township-new-jersey-over-denial-zoning _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu<mailto:Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. -- Ira C. Lupu F. Elwood & Eleanor Davis Professor of Law, Emeritus George Washington University Law School 2000 H St., NW Washington, DC 20052 301-928-9178 (mobile, preferred) 202-994-7053 (office) Co-author (with Professor Robert Tuttle) of "Secular Government, Religious People" ( Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2014)) My SSRN papers are here: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=181272#reg ________________________________ This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. If the reader of this message or an attachment is not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message or attachment to the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this message or any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the sender. 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