Los Angeles – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a lower court ruling in FBI v. Fazaga and sent the case back to the district court for further proceedings. The long-running case challenges the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) secret operation in Irvine, California in 2006, targeting and surveilling Muslim Americans while exercising their right to worship freely. The case was litigated by attorneys with the ACLU and Ahilan Arulanantham, faculty co-director at the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law.

In response, Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and counsel on the case, issued the following statement:

“We look forward to getting to the truth at the district court about how the FBI surveilled Muslim Americans and violated their constitutional right to practice their religion freely. The bottom line is the government’s attempt to evade accountability and have the case dismissed did not work.”

Founded in 2020, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law expands the law school's role as a national leader in immigration law and policy, generating innovative ideas at the intersection of immigration scholarship and practice and serving as a hub for transforming those ideas into meaningful changes in immigration policy. 

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