Assma Ali, an immigration lawyer with nearly a decade of experience, was appointed last week as municipal judge for Benoit, Mississippi, a town with fewer than 400 residents. The appointment has generated significant online backlash from internet users and some state politicians who have questioned her suitability for the position based on her Muslim faith and Yemeni heritage.
Ali is a U.S. citizen who earned her law degree from Mississippi College School of Law in 2017 and was admitted to the state bar that same year. She operates a private legal practice in Ridgeland. As a municipal judge, she will oversee cases involving city ordinance violations, traffic violations, misdemeanor crimes, and initial appearances within Benoit’s jurisdiction. Municipal judges in Mississippi are appointed by local governing bodies rather than the state, and those in cities with populations below 20,000 are not required to reside in their service areas.
Online critics have made unsubstantiated claims about Ali’s judicial philosophy, including accusations that she would implement Islamic law in her courtroom and suggestions that she fabricated her appointment. Some social media posts misidentified the location of her appointment. Ali responded with a statement affirming her commitment to upholding the U.S. Constitution and Mississippi law, and she shared documentation of her signed oath of office and the municipal appointment on social media.
Legal scholars and colleagues have defended Ali’s credentials and highlighted constitutional protections against religious discrimination in public office. Frank Rosenblatt, a law professor who knows Ali professionally, characterized the attacks as stemming from prejudice rather than legitimate concerns about her qualifications. Sahar Aziz, a law professor at Rutgers University, noted that similar concerns have been raised against other religious minorities in public service and argued such questions misrepresent how the judicial system operates. Mississippi passed legislation in 2015 banning foreign law enforcement in the state, though critics noted at the time that such measures addressed a nonexistent problem.
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