Trump has threatened to declare a national emergency to build a wall. Is that legal? [PBS Newshour]

Emergency powers are usually used to address political crises in other nations such as the systemic violation of human rights, war, or a serious threat of abuse of weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons, said Sahar F. Aziz, director of the Center for Security, Race and Rights at Rutgers Law School in an email to PBS NewsHour. For example, Aziz said, emergency powers were invoked in response to opposition to stabilization efforts in the Balkans in 1997 and the wars in Syria and Yemen in 2012. The president doesn’t… Continue reading “Trump has threatened to declare a national emergency to build a wall. Is that legal? [PBS Newshour]”

Trump, Anti-Muslim Rhetoric, and the Supreme Court [Good Law, Bad Law Podcast]

Sahar Aziz speaks with attorney Aaron Freiwald on an important subject that touches on many aspects of contemporary politics from immigration to civil rights to discrimination to politics and just how we live as Americans in this country. Specifically, she discusses how Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric informs his anti-Muslim policies, including the issuance of the Muslim Ban in January 2017. To listen to the interview, click here.… Continue reading “Trump, Anti-Muslim Rhetoric, and the Supreme Court [Good Law, Bad Law Podcast]”

Clark Initiative Distinguished Lecture [Cornell University]

In October 2018, Professor Sahar Aziz gave the Clarke Initiative Distinguished Lecture entitled “The (Ir)Relevance of Law in Egypt’s Failed Transition to Democracy” at Cornell Law School. Her analysis of how law was weaponized by authoritarian regimes to defeat the Arab Spring is informed by her scholarship on the rule of law in the Middle East, available for download here.… Continue reading “Clark Initiative Distinguished Lecture [Cornell University]”

The Entrenched Effects of Misconduct in the Restaurant Industry [The Atlantic]

Tip-based wages leave employees—especially women, who report the majority of incidents—vulnerable to the whims of both management and customers alike. Pushing back against harassment, even by simply reporting it, often means risking retaliation that can include lower tips or industry-wide blackballing. “And those who do the harassment know that,” Sahar Aziz, a Rutgers University law professor who took part in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, told BuzzFeed News. Many restaurant employees lack the status, prestige, and financial safety… Continue reading “The Entrenched Effects of Misconduct in the Restaurant Industry [The Atlantic]”

Travel Ban Upheld: What Happens Now? [NPR]

On January 27th, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 1-3-7-6-9 — officially named “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.” And protests erupted around the country. No refugees allowed into the United States for 120 days. No Syrian refugees indefinitely. And no one from seven overwhelmingly Muslim countries allowed to enter the country for 90 days. Those countries were Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. That first “travel ban” as it came to be known was struck down by the court system almost immediately… Continue reading “Travel Ban Upheld: What Happens Now? [NPR]”

We Got Government Data on 20 Years of Workplace Sexual Harassment Claims [Buzzfeed]

The Harvey Weinstein scandal shows that a skewed power dynamic can allow a few powerful “gatekeepers” in “high-stakes” industries to behave inappropriately toward others without being called out, said Sahar Aziz, a law professor at Rutgers University who was part of the EEOC’s Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace. In these industries, she said, the fear of being blacklisted may prevent victims of sexual harassment from speaking up. The current public discussion is focused on industries like entertainment, media, and politics — rife with… Continue reading “We Got Government Data on 20 Years of Workplace Sexual Harassment Claims [Buzzfeed]”

Trump’s Doublespeak in Saudi Arabia [CNN]

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Donald Trump, it is that he has no qualms about contradicting himself to get what he wants. In Saudi Arabia, he wanted a $110 billion arms deal – not to promote peace and tolerance, as he later proclaimed in his Sunday speech. Thus, his speech will not “be remembered as the beginning of peace in the Middle East,” as he loftily put it, but rather a boost to the war that is ravaging it. Nor will Trump’s speech put an end to the … Continue reading “Trump’s Doublespeak in Saudi Arabia [CNN]”

Trump’s Immigrant Ban Part of a Long, Sad Tradition [Fox News]

For all of his anti-establishment rhetoric, President Trump’s stance toward immigrants and Muslims is more of the same. Orientalism and Manifest Destiny have long animated American foreign policy and domestic treatment of its racial and religious minorities. Trump’s executive orders on Friday, effectively barring immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries, harks back to an era when holy wars were the currency for mass mobilization by the ruler. In the eleventh century, for example, Pope Urban II called on his people to defend the Byzantine Empire from encroaching Muslim armies. What became… Continue reading “Trump’s Immigrant Ban Part of a Long, Sad Tradition [Fox News]”

The Expanding Jurisdiction of Egypt’s Military Courts [Carnegie Sada Journal]

Egypt’s ongoing expansion of military jurisdiction under the pretext of economic development and public safety is yet another indicator that its revolution was stillborn. Although the military has long been a key political player, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s regime has promoted the military to the helm of Egypt’s political and economic affairs. In parallel, there has been an unprecedented expansion of military trials of civilians to serve the interests of the military generals governing the country. Concerns over trying civilians in military courts have long been a priority for Egypt’s… Continue reading “The Expanding Jurisdiction of Egypt’s Military Courts [Carnegie Sada Journal]”