Mazen Basrawi

Mazen M. Basrawi is a trial attorney in the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division where he enforces the Fair Housing Act (FHA, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Notably, he litigated United States v. Rutherford County, Tennessee, guaranteeing the right of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro to open its mosque despite intense opposition, which became the subject of a CNN documentary entitled “unwelcome: the Muslims Next Door.” After joining President Obama’s historic 2008 campaign and the 56 th inaugural committee,President Obama appointed Mazen as Counsel to then Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez in the Civil Rights Division where he developed and implemented policy in the areas of post 9-11backlash, disability rights and the civil rights of Native Americans. He then served as a federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia. He recently completed a 15-month detail at the White House where he served as Director for Partnerships and  Global Engagement on theNational Security Council, and Senior Advisor and Liaison to Muslim Communities for the Office of Public Engagement.Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Mazen was a litigation associate of Bingham McCutchen, LLP (presently Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP) in San Francisco and was an Equal Justice Works Fellow at Disability Rights Advocates in Berkeley, California. As an EJW Fellow, Mazen developed National Federation of the Blind v. Target, Corp, establishing the ADA’s reach to retail websites. He is a highly distinguished graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of California, Berkeley Law School. Mazen also serves on the Virginia Board for the Blind and Visually Impaired, where he has served as its chairman for 3 years since Gov. Terry McAuliffe appointed him in 2017.