The 
American 
Freedom 
Law Center, a conservative 
public 
interest 
law 
firm 
based in Ann Arbor, won a 
round in court on Jan. 15 
when motions to dismiss the 
group’s lawsuit were denied. 
The group is suing Michigan 
Attorney General Dana Nessel 
and Agustin Arbulu, former 
director 
of 
the 
Michigan 
Department of Civil Rights, on 
the grounds of a constitutional 
rights violation.
The 
lawsuit 
began 
last 
February when Nessel and 
Arbulu issued a press release 
in response to the Southern 
Poverty Law Center’s annual 
Hate Group Map identifying 
active hate groups across the 
country; the report listed 
31 hate groups in Michigan, 
a 
6.5-percent 
increase 
as 
compared to the previous 
year. The report identifies the 
Ann Arbor-based AFLC as an 
anti-Muslim hate group. In 
response, Nessel and Abulu 
announced the establishment 
of a hate crimes unit in the 
attorney general’s office as 
well as a database to document 
incidents of hate and bias.
On 
March 
8, 
Nessel 
released 
an 
additional 
press 
release 
officially 
establishing the new hate 
crimes unit and reaffirming 
her commitment to protecting 
all organizations’ rights to 
freedom of speech. Nessel also 
said it was her responsibility 
to take action against possible 
hate crimes stemming from 
offensive or bigoted language. 

“When a criminal offense is 
committed against a person or 
property and it is motivated 
by an offender’s bias against 

a particular group, then my 
office will act,” Nessel said. 

The 
complaint 
contends 
that the AFLC is being unfairly 
targeted 
by 
this 
policy 
directive based on political 
views and has suffered injury 
to its reputation. The group 
claims the policy directive put 
forth by Nessel and Arbulu 
infringes on their right to free 
speech, protected by the First 
Amendment, and their rights 
to expressive association and 
equal protection of the law, 
both protected by the 14th 
Amendment.
Nessel and Arbulu filed 
separate motions to dismiss, 
however, 
District 
Judge 
Paul Maloney denied these 
motions, meaning the lawsuit 
will move on to the discovery 
phase. 
“Defendants’ 
general 
disagreement 
with 
the 
scope and nature of their 
new 
initiative 
does 
not 
undermine the effect that 
the announcement of the new 
policy on AFLC’s reputation 
and activities, as established 
by the affidavit submitted by 
AFLC,” Maloney wrote in the 
opinion. “And, assuming the 
allegations in the complaint 
to be true, AFLC has pled 
sufficient 
facts 
to 
state 
claims under the First and 
Fourteenth Amendments.”
The SPLC is an Alabama-
based, 
nonprofit 
legal 
advocacy 
organization 
focusing on civil rights. The 
group’s oft-cited Intelligence 
Report identify and track 
hate groups across the nation, 
however, the group has faced 
recent criticism questioning 
the SPLC’s definitions of hate 
and extremism and defending 
some 
of 
the 
groups 
and 
individuals targeted by hate 
group reports. 

The 
SPLC 
declined 
to 
comment at the time of this 
story, however, the group 
has 
published 
multiple 
articles regarding the AFLC’s 
anti-Muslim 
stance. 
The 
Intelligence Report defines 
“anti-Muslim” hate groups as 
those which “exhibit extreme 
hostility 
toward 
Muslims 
… and attribute to (Islam’s) 
followers an inherent set of 
negative traits.” In a profile on 
David Yerushalmi, co-founder 
and senior counsel of the 
AFLC, 
the 
SPLC 
outlines 
Yerushalmi’s history of anti-
Muslim activism.
 In an article titled “Is 
the 
War 
Against 
Terror 
Rational?”, 
Yerushalmi 
condemns Islam.
“We must be prepared to 
fight a full-scale war against 
all nations and people who 
advocate, accommodate, or 
acquiesce to the Islamic world 
view,” 
Yerushalmi 
wrote. 
“We will never defeat ‘radical 
Islam’ 
without 
defeating 
Islam itself because they are 
one and the same.”
The SPLC cites the AFLC’s 
amicus 
curiae 
brief 
from 
February 
2018 
supporting 
President Trump’s “extreme 
vetting” 
travel 
policy 
as 
further 
evidence 
of 
anti-
Muslim hate. The analysis 
of the brief draws attention 
to misinformation put forth 
about Sharia, Islamic law.
“Its religiously-laden terms 
such as ‘Islamic radicalism’ 
and 
‘sharia 
supremacism’ 
does little to mask the brief’s 
anti-Muslim 
agenda,” 
the 
SPLC writes. “It also makes 
the 
fundamental 
mistake 
of 
equating 
sharia 
with 
ideological extremism, when 
in fact it is merely a set of 
guiding principles to living 
a moral life set out in the 
Qur’an and is akin to how 

halacha is practiced among 
many 
religiously-observant 
Jews.”
The 
SPLC 
further 
denounces 
the 
AFLC’s 
American Laws for American 
Courts initiative, a legislative 
model for bills prohibiting 
foreign 
laws 
in 
American 
courts, focused specifically on 
Sharia “law.” The SPLC points 
out that Sharia is not actually 
law and that such a protection 
is 
already 
guaranteed 
by 
the 
Constitution. 
They 
sayconclude that the ALAC 
initiative 
is 
an 
attempt 
to 
promote 
unfounded 
fear, 
linking 
anti-Muslim 
legislative 
rhetoric 
to 
increasing hate crimes against 
American Muslims. 
“Driven by hate groups, the 
ALAC initiative has created 
unfounded 
fear, 
and 
has 
sought to demonize Islam and 
American Muslims across the 
nation through legislation and 
rhetoric,” the SPLC writes. 

Robert 
Muise, 
AFLC 
co-founder 
and 
senior 
counsel, said he felt confident 
about 
the 
case’s 
outcome 
following this victory.
“In light of the judge’s 
ruling on that motion to 
dismiss, I’m quite confident 
that we’re going to ultimately 
prevail,” Muise said. “And our 
ultimate goal is to protect the 
rights to freedom of speech 
and 
right 
to 
expressive 
association, and to prevent 
government 
officials 
from 
weaponizing their offices for 
political purposes.”
Law School student Kevin 
Deutsch 
said 
he 
wasn’t 
surprised 
the 
motions 
to 
dismiss were denied. 

2 — Friday, February 7, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News

TUESDAY:
By Design
THURSDAY:
Twitter Talk

FRIDAY:
Behind the Story

WEDNESDAY:
This Week in History

MONDAY:

Looking at the Numbers

B E HIND THE STORY

Every Friday, one Daily staffer will give a behind the scenes look at 
one of this week’s stories. This week, LSA senior Julia Fanzeres on 
her story “Solomon Rajput is riding the socialist wave”:

“I chose to do this story because when Solomon first announced his 
candidacy it was very fascinating because he’s a med student taking 
a leave of absence to take on an 85-year old political dynasty here in 
Ann Arbor, the Dingell family, and I just really wanted to know more 
about the person and what were his motivations behind his campaign 
and the pillars of his platform. So it started off Solomon and I had 
already spoken for a couple pieces. So we got in contact with this 
campaign and we decided a day for me to follow him around while 
he was canvassing with his ‘army’, as he likes to call it of grassroots 
volunteers. And then I, along with a photographer, Alec Cohen, went 
along to canvass with him and just to really see how that was like with 
a fellow of his Alec. So that was really fascinating to be able to see 
the canvassing and the inspiration that he had throughout the entire 
campaign. It was also great to hear from Congresswoman Dingell I 
was able to get her perspective on Solomon Rajput campaign and how 
she differs a little bit.”

ALEC COHEN/Daily

QUOTE OF THE WE E K 

“
It’s difficult for any campaign to make the convincing 
argument for your candidate and have them show up and cast a 
ballot, but it’s increasingly difficult when it’s a caucus, when it’s a 
specific night at a specific time,” Ouellette said. “And not only that, 
you don’t get to go behind the curtain and cast a ballot. You are 
visibly out there for a candidate. You have to stand in line, stand in 
one place, and your body represents your vote.”

Roger Ouellette, communications director for the Sanders campaign in Iowa, speaks at the Iowa caucus

Law firm called ‘hate group’ by SPLC 
wins round in lawsuit against MI

American Freedom Law Center claims Dana Nessel violated constitutional speech rights 

ANGELINA LITTLE 
Daily Staff Reporter

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See SPLC, Page 3

