Shirin Sinnar. “Human Rights, National Security, and the Role of Lawyers in the Resistance.” Stanford Journal of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, vol. 13, (2017): 37-46.
This article examines the role of lawyers in resisting democratic backsliding and authoritarian policymaking in the United States, particularly during the Trump administration. Faced with explicit threats to human rights, racial equality, and civil liberties—manifested in rhetoric and appointments hostile to Muslims, immigrants, and legal norms—lawyers are called to act as bulwarks against erosion of democratic principles under the guise of national security. The piece emphasizes the importance of ordinary lawyers and law students not only engaging in legal advocacy but also fostering grassroots mobilization to counter state overreach. It draws on post-9/11 human rights lawyering to illustrate how legal professionals can resist authoritarian impulses by combining courtroom advocacy with public engagement and coalition-building. In backsliding democracies, lawyers are not just defenders of individual rights—they become defenders of the rule of law itself.