Case Overview

Muslim Advocates filed an amicus brief in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Mr. Emad in a First Amendment challenge to his treatment while the Dodge County Jail in Wisconsin detained him. The Jail refused to allow Mr. Emad to perform salat outside his cell which contained a toilet. It also refused to allow Muslim detainees to gather for Jumu’ah, despite allowing unsupervised gatherings of Christian detainees. The district court found that the former violated Mr. Emad’s First Amendment rights, but the latter did not. Regardless, it found that the jail officials were protected from liability by qualified immunity. MA’s brief urged the Seventh Circuit to reverse this decision and find that both actions violated Mr. Emad’s First Amendment rights and that qualified immunity was inappropriate.

Case Details

Date filed: November 14, 2022

Court(s): United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit