A federal court in Chicago today ruled in favor of CLCMA‘s longtime clients, American Muslims for Palestine, and several of its officers. The plaintiffs have been trying since May 2017 to hold AMP responsible for a judgment in another lawsuit, for actions which occurred before AMP even existed.
Dismissing the case today, the Judge ruled that “plaintiffs’ speculation that it is “obvious” AMP’s leadership was populated with IAP and HLF veterans because AMP was successful ignores evidence that Dr. Bazian and Ahmad were connected to many individuals in the Palestinian-American community and that Dr. Bazian is a well-known Palestinian-American social justice activist. The Court refuses to infer that because Dr. Bazian and Ahmad support Palestinian issues they are somehow connected to Hamas, as plaintiffs suggest.”
“We are thrilled for our clients after this long and hard fought battle,” commented Christina A. Jump, Civil Litigation Department Head for CLCMA. “Without CLCMA’s ability to work for nonprofits like AMP free of charge, due to the generosity of our operating grant funded by many small donations from across the country, a blameless nonprofit would have been forced out of existence solely because of the nationality of its members and the culture which it works to preserve. The right legal decision came through today, after many years, many depositions, and a lot of fishing expeditions in discovery— which all led nowhere. Today we celebrate on behalf of our clients, and look forward to being able to do so even more often in the future.”
