The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating a complaint filed by Safiya Ghori-Ahmad who says the religious commission canceled her contract because of her Muslim faith and affiliation with a Muslim advocacy group. Six commission researchers signed a letter urging their bosses to keep Ghori-Ahmad, who was considered a key policy analyst because of her knowledge of South Asia. One of the researchers quit in protest when management got rid of Ghori-Ahmad.

 

The commission’s chairman, Leonard Leo, has denied the accusations of bias against Muslims at his agency. Leo, who also serves as the executive vice president of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, which defines its mission as countering “liberal ideology” in law schools and the legal profession. Leo was appointed to the commission by President George W. Bush in 2007.

 

The commission’s nine members currently include two Catholics, two evangelical Protestants, one Southern Baptist, one Orthodox Christian, one Jew and one Muslim, with one vacancy.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Agency That Monitors Religious Freedom Abroad Accused of Bias (by Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post)

Leonard Leo Biography (Foundation for Fair Civil Justice)