Lawsuit Pits Sharia Law Against the Constitution

I think many of us saw this coming, but it's still chilling to see it in our United States.

The American Freedom Law Center has filed a landmark lawsuit on behalf of a Dearborn, Michigan, resident, alleging that the Arab-majority Detroit suburb, led by Muslim officials, has promoted Islam and discriminated against and fostered hostility towards Christians and Jews — in violation of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause.

What is happening in Michigan is a precursor to what can, and likely will, happen in Texas and other parts of our country if we don't address it.

Of course, the press will try to mislead the public and make this into a matter of Muslims being deprived of "their" rights under our Constitution.

Be informed, not misled.

 Federalist Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland has brought this lawsuit forward.

She alleges that Dearborn’s leaders have endorsed glitzy Ramadan displays and advertised an iftar dinner with public funds. Conversely, they have allegedly ignored Cleveland’s requests for comparable commemorations for Christian and Jewish holidays and sidestepped concerns over public rallies glorifying jihadism. 

They have also berated a Christian pastor and fellow constituent. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud called Pastor Ted Barham a “bigot” and “Islamophobe” who “is not welcome here” when he questioned the city’s renaming of a city street for an avowed Hamas and Hezbollah supporter.

He said, “I want you to know, as mayor, you are not welcome here. And the day you move out of the city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of the city because you are not somebody who believes in coexistence.”

The complaint details a pattern of alleged religious favoritism dating back to April 2025, when Cleveland discovered the city had spent public funds—roughly $1,500 on “Ramadan Kareem” banners and $5,000 on a lit crescent-moon display in a municipal park—while providing no equivalent recognition for Lent or the approaching Passover holiday. 

According to the suit, Cleveland’s subsequent request that the city treat Christian and Jewish holidays with the same public recognition went unanswered, even as the city’s police department sold Ramadan-themed shirts bearing its official emblem and Hammoud used his government email to promote an Iftar event. 

The lawsuit alleges the disparity only widened in 2026, when the city installed additional lighted Ramadan displays that Hammoud himself described as reflecting “who we are as a city,” while the City Council’s budget that same year again included no funding for comparable Christian or Jewish observances despite a budget surplus and Cleveland’s repeated public appeals.

The city didn't even respond to non-Muslims asking why.

The suit brings three claims: 

1. A First Amendment retaliation claim alleging that the city and Hammoud punished Cleveland for her journalism and advocacy by freezing her out of communications and public meetings.
2. A Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection claim alleging she was treated worse than similarly situated residents because of her religious and political viewpoints.
3. An Establishment Clause claim alleging the city unconstitutionally preferred Islam over Christianity and Judaism through its sponsorship of religious displays and events. 

The complaint points to Hammoud’s own public statement that the Ramadan program reflects “who we are as a city” as evidence of an official government endorsement of one faith over others, and asks the court for a declaratory judgment, an injunction against the city’s allegedly discriminatory practices, nominal damages, and attorneys’ fees.

RE: The pastor. 

Via Focus on Western Islamism:

The suit also recounts a now legendary confrontation between Hammoud and local Pastor Ted Barham.

At a September 9, 2025 City Council meeting, Barham rose to object to the city’s decision to rename a local street in honor of Osama Siblani, a man who has publicly praised Hezbollah and Hamas as “freedom fighters.” 

Identifying himself as a Christian who had lived in Lebanon, Israel, and the West Bank, Barham told the council the street signage was “quite inappropriate,” likening it to naming a street “Hezbollah Street or Hamas Street,” citing some of Siblani’s own inflammatory remarks—including his comment that the blood of “martyrs” “irrigates the land of Palestine.” 

Barham closed by invoking Christian scripture, saying he wished “to encourage peace” and that Jesus, “called the prince of peace,” adding the phrase, “blessed are the peacemakers.”

Hammoud’s response, captured on video and quoted at length in the complaint, has since become notorious. He told Barham: “The best suggestion I have for you is to not drive on Warren Avenue or to close your eyes while you’re doing it,” before accusing him of hypocrisy for criticizing the street renaming while himself having posted videos “standing in front of my mosque saying the cruelest of things about Muslims.”

RE: The mayor.

As for Mayor Hammoud, that he harangued Pastor Barham over his criticism of the renaming of a city street for Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani should not have been surprising. The mayor celebrated the renaming for the pro-jihadi newsman at a public ceremony, calling him “the voice of this community.” 

Previously, Hammoud spoke at a “Stand With Lebanon” rally that Siblani emceed, in which the publisher said Israelis fleeing northern Israel under threat from Hezbollah should “Go back to Poland.” Hammoud, speaking before participants who reportedly shouted, “Death to Israel,” called for spreading the city’s values across the world. 

Siblani closed by extending “Greetings to the resistance, from Dearborn, Michigan!” Likewise, at a putatively pro-Palestinian event held a month after Hamas’ Oct. 7 jihad, Hammoud dubbed Dearborn a “city of resistance” – arguably a euphemism for jihadist support. He has called Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide,” a blood libel. In commemoration of an exhibition the city promoted this summer highlighting stories of Gazan children killed during the war, Hammoud added that Israel’s “genocidal campaign … has spread to Lebanon” too.

Like El-Sayed, a close ally of his, Hammoud has garnered the support of and spoken before the Muslim Brotherhood-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), named by prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism financing case in U.S. history. He has also addressed another organization prosecutors named as a co-conspirator in that case, the Islamic Society of North America, and garnered the support of adjacent groups.

Hammoud attends the Islamic Center of America, which a George Washington University report identifies as a key node for Tehran's propaganda. Preachers there have eulogized Qassem Soleimani, memorialized the cleric who authorized Hezbollah’s 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut, and promoted Iran’s propaganda.

Takeaway

Anthony Deegan, a Christian resident of Dearborn who has worked to document and counter anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda put forth by Islamists and their leftist allies in the city, says the lawsuit fits a pattern he’s watched play out for years. Given the city’s ongoing controversies—including politicians treating city assets and venues as their own personal playthings—he says it was “only a matter of time” before Dearborn found itself on the losing end of another costly lawsuit.

“This one might be it,” Deegan said.

The question: So is Dearborn’s alleged discrimination against non-Muslims a coincidence, or evidence of creeping dhimmitude? Will non-Muslims in similar communities face a similar fate? And will the American justice system protect us from such attacks on our most sacred rights?

For now, this issue ends with a question, much like our national anthem does.

"Oh, say does that star-spangled banner still wave... o'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave? 

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Bold. Be Prayerful.