Asifa Quraishi-Landes

Professor of Law

Quraishi-Landes, Asifa

Education

S.J.D., Harvard Law School (2006)
LL.M., Columbia Law School (1998)
J.D., University of California-Davis (1992)
B.A., University of California-Berkeley (1988)

Biography

Asifa Quraishi-Landes specializes in comparative Islamic and U.S.constitutional law, with a current focus on modern Islamic constitutional theory.  She is a 2009 Carnegie Scholar and 2012 Guggenheim Fellow. Recent publications include "Legislating Morality and Other Illusions about Islamic Government," (in Locating the Shari'a: Legal Fluidity in Theory, History and Practice, Nathan French & Sohaira Siddiqui editors) and "Healing a Wounded Islamic Constitutionalism: Sharia, Legal Pluralism, and Unlearning the Nation-State Paradigm (forthcoming in Transformative Constitutionalism, Boaventura De Sousa Santos, editor).  Currently, she is working on a book manuscript tentatively titled "Three Pillars Constitutionalism" in which she proposes a new model of Islamic constitutionalism for today's Muslim-majority countries.

Professor Quraishi-Landes holds a doctorate from Harvard Law School and other degrees from Columbia Law School, the University of California-Davis, and the University of California-Berkeley, and has served as law clerk in the United State Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  She has served as a Public Delegate on the United States Delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the Task Force on Religion and the Making of U.S. Foreign Policy for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and as advisor to the Pew Task Force on Religion & Public Life.  She is past President of the National Association of Muslim Lawyers (NAML), and past Interim Co-Executive Director of Muslim Advocates and past President and Board Member of Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Muslim Public Service Network, and Bayan Islamic Graduate School and is a Fellow with the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.

 

Photo Credit: Tatiana Shirasaki

Scholarship & Publications

SSRN

Law Repository

Research Interests

  • Islamic Constitutionalism
  • Comparative Constitutionalism
  • Legal Pluralism

Activities

  • Asifa Quraishi-Landes presented during a webinar on "Protecting Academic Freedom, Empowering Muslim Students After the Hamline Controversy" hosted by Rutgers Law School on Feb. 3, 2023. 

  • The 2019 Wisconsin Law Review Symposium, which was chaired by former UW Law Professor Andrew Coan, featured a number of UW Law faculty, including Anuj Desai, Howie Erlanger, Neil Komesar, John Ohnesorge, Asifa Quraishi-Landes, David Schwartz, Miriam Seifter and Rob Yablon. The symposium, titled "Rationing the Constitution: How Judicial Capacity Shapes Supreme Decision-Making,” was held Oct. 24 and 25.

  • Asifa Quraishi-Landes presented "Sharia and the American Muslim Voter: Why Islamophobia Gets It All Wrong" at the Fitchburg Public Library in October.

  • Asifa Quraishi-Landes was among the public figures honored in House Resolution 276, “Recognizing American Muslims’ history and contributions to our Nation.” Rep. Judy Chu of California introduced the resolution in April to the House of Representatives, where it was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

  • Asifa Quraishi-Landes presented "Theorizing Islamic Constitutionalism Beyond the Islamic State: Protecting Religious Freedom and Honoring Shari’a," as part of the 2016 Bayan Conference, "Islamic Perspectives on Religious Freedom." Watch the full address.

  • Asifa Quraishi has been appointed as a U.S. Delegate to the 54th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. She will be attending the Session from March 1 through March 12, 2010 at the UN Headquarters in New York.

  • David Schwartz participated on the panel "Facilitating Active Learning" at the Workshop on Innovative Teaching Methods & Materials, held at Washburn University School of Law, May 18-20, 2009. The conference, co-sponsored by Carolina Academic Press, is for authors in the forthcoming "Context and Practice Series" of casebooks. Schwartz is under contract to write a textbook tentatively titled, Constitutional Law: The New Case Method, to be co-authored with UW law colleague Asifa Quraishi.  

News & Media

Teaching Areas

  • Constitutional Law
  • Islamic Law

Recently Taught Courses

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