Attorney Jennifer DeMaster allegedly worked with anti-Muslim hate groups that sought to restrict the rights of American Muslims
(WASHINGTON, D.C, 11/18/2021) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, and 19 Wisconsin-based advocacy and interfaith groups today announced a call for a meeting with Milwaukee City Attorney Tearman Spencer over his continued support for Jennifer DeMaster, a staff attorney who reportedly has a history of working with anti-Muslim hate groups that sought to restrict the rights of American Muslims.
CAIR and a coalition of advocacy and interfaith groups in Wisconsin sent a letter yesterday to Spencer calling for the meeting and demanding Spencer fire DeMaster if the allegations against her are true and unless she renounces her past Islamophobic work and pledges to treat all people equally under the law.
Read the letter: https://www.cair.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/DeMaster.pdf
Earlier this month, CAIR called for DeMaster’s firing and his office doubled down on her defense. In response to community complaints about DeMaster’s Islamophobic views and work, City Attorney’s Office Special Deputy Celia M. Jackson said, “We all have different views.” She added: “We’re hiring people based on their skills and what they can attribute to the office…It is about this office being successful.”
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, Esq. said:
“Mr. Spencer’s ongoing failure to address community concerns about Jennifer DeMaster indicates that Islamophobia is an acceptable form of bigotry within the Milwaukee City Attorney’s office. We can only hope that Mr. Spencer’s reaction would not be the same if a staffer had attempted to enshrine racism or anti-Semitism into law. All forms of bigotry should face equal rejection.
“If Ms. DeMaster did indeed try to violate the Constitution by supporting hate groups that seek to restrict the rights of American Muslims, Attorney Spencer must take action to ensure his office treats all residents equally under the law.”
Janan Najeeb, President of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition said:
“The citizens of Milwaukee deserve to be able to turn to the City Attorney’s office for unbiased support. If it is okay to hire an ethically challenged Islamophobic attorney now, it gives the green light to hire other bigoted attorneys that target other communities under the guise of of having few options. Mayor Tom Barrett also can’t sit this out; he has a responsibility to the citizens of Milwaukee, the responsibility ultimately sits with him. If it is true that no one wants to work for city attorney Tearman Spencer, then the mayor and common council need to evaluate how to repair the severe damage that Mr. Spencer has done.”
SEE: CAIR Calls on Milwaukee City Attorney to Drop Attorney Who Worked for Anti-Muslim Hate Groups
Milwaukee City Attorney Deputy Defends Lawyer with anti-Muslim Ties
Video: Milwaukee City Attorney’s Office Responds to New Staffer’s Work for Hate Groups
BACKGROUNDER ON DEMASTER’S ISLAMOPHOBIC PAST:
From 2015-2017, DeMaster worked as a legal analyst for the Clarion Project (formerly known as the Clarion Fund), a major proponent of Islamophobia in the United States and with a history of producing anti-Muslim films such as Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West and The Third Jihad: Radical Islam’s Vision for America. Jeff VanDenBerg, director of Middle East Studies at Drury University, called Obsession “a blatant piece of anti-Muslim propaganda.” Dr. Khaleel Mohammed, a Muslim interviewee for Obsession, called the production a “vile piece of propaganda.”
According to the Bridge Initiative, DeMaster “previously worked for the anti-Muslim group, Clarion Project, and also wrote a book arguing that Islam is not a peaceful religion.”
SEE: Bice: Muslim Leaders Criticize City Attorney Tearman Spencer for Hiring Lawyer Who Worked for Anti-Islamic ‘hate groups’
SEE: Clarion Project
The Southern Poverty Law Center also designated the Clarion Project as an anti-Muslim hate group.
SEE: The Year in Hate and Extremism 2019
https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/yih_2020_final.pdf
Prior to her work at the Clarion Project, DeMaster worked as a law clerk at the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), where she worked on “Sharia law (and) radical Islamic ideology,” according to a resume she filed with a federal court.
SEE: Muslim Leaders Criticize City Attorney Tearman Spencer for Hiring Lawyer Who Worked for Anti-Islamic ‘hate groups’
In 2010, the ACLJ supported Oklahoma’s “Save our State” amendment, which was designed to prohibit state courts from considering foreign law or Sharia when constructing procedures. The amendment was later struck down in federal court and was found to be unconstitutional on the basis of its potential to do harm to Muslims, a ruling that was upheld by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2012.
Despite the dismissal of its unconstitutional Sharia law ban proposal, the ACLJ continued to promote and advocate for its implementation. In 2011, the ACLJ published an anti-Muslim pamphlet titled “Shari’a Law: Radical Islam’s Threat to the U.S. Constitution,” which claimed that “devout Muslims cannot truthfully swear oath to become citizens of the United States of America.”
SEE: American Center for Law and Justice
In May 2019, CAIR released a groundbreaking report, called “Hijacked by Hate: American Philanthropy and the Islamophobia Network,” listing the philanthropic foundations that were used by anonymous special interest donors to funnel almost $125 million to anti-Muslim hate groups, including ACLJ and Clarion Project, between 2014 and 2016.
SEE: Hijacked by Hate
In 2016, the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-San Diego) called on the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) and other law enforcement agencies in California to investigate whether any officers attended a training conference later this month featuring notorious anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist and Clarion Project’s national security analyst Ryan Mauro, who promotes the debunked “Muslim no-go-zones” myth.
SEE: CAIR Asks San Diego Police Department, Other Agencies to Probe Training by Islamophobe Ryan Mauro
In 2008, CAIR asked the IRS to investigate whether the Clarion Project, which was behind the distribution of an anti-Muslim film to 28 million homes in presidential election swing states, violated laws governing its tax-exempt status.
SEE: CAIR Asks IRS to Probe Group Behind Swing State Anti-Muslim DVDs
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR Director of Government Affairs Department Robert S. McCaw at 202-999-8292, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com