[9/9/16] President Obama has appointed the first Muslim federal judge, a Pakistani immigrant who has practiced law in the United States for 10 years and was educated at American universities, but it’s his ties to Islamists, including those in the Saudi Arabian government, that could prove troubling for senators being asked to approve his nomination.
While Abid Qureshi has never been a judge and thus has no clear record to inspect, his private practice defending Muslim civil rights and the celebration of his appointment by Islamist organizations give reason for concern, say experts in Islam.
Qureshi has defended two Muslim filmmakers in their quest to get pro-Islamic “anti-Islamophobia” advertisements placed in the New York subway system, and he also represented the Saudi Arabian government in a dispute involving a Shariah-compliant Islamic school in the U.S.
His appointment to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which requires Senate approval, was hailed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America.
CAIR and ISNA are offshoots of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood and have links to the Hamas terrorist organization as documented by the FBI during the Holy Land Foundation trial in 2007.
CAIR celebrated Qureshi’s appointment on its Facebook page Wednesday.
“The nomination of Abid Qureshi to fill a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sends a message of inclusion that is welcomed by the American Muslim community and by all Americans who value diversity and mutual respect at a time when some seek division and discord,” Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR, said in a statement.
Qureshi has since 2012 headed up the pro bono (charity) division of Latham and Watkins, a major Washington, D.C., law firm.
His pro bono clients have included prisoners, foreign-educated physical therapists and the National Organization of Concerned Black Men, according to the National Law Journal.
Most troubling for those concerned that Qureshi’s allegiance to Islamic law may influence his view of the U.S. Constitution is his work representing a private school with ties to the hard-line Saudi Arabian government in a case before the National Labor Relations Board.
Abid Qureshi and his team represented the Islamic Saudi Academy, a K-12 private school with the backing of the Saudi government. “The school is on a mission of providing education ‘rooted in the Islamic faith’ to young people of Saudi Arabia residing in the U.S., especially children of government officials and Saudi diplomats,” according to National Law Journal.
The dispute centered on whether the board had jurisdiction over the school’s decision to fire a teacher. Qureshi cleverly cast the case as a matter of religious freedom – and he won the case for the Saudi government school…CONTINUE READING