Race and National Security in the Courts with Shirin Sinnar

Shirin Sinnar, JD '03, is the William W. and Gertrude H. Saunders Professor of Law at Stanford University. Her scholarship focuses on the legal treatment of political violence, the procedural dimensions of civil rights litigation, and the role of institutions in protecting individual rights and democratic values in the national security context. Sinnar teaches courses in civil procedure, advanced civil procedure, terrorism, and the intersection of race and identity with national security. In 2016, Sinnar was selected by the graduating class as the recipient of the John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching. Her recent work assesses legal responses to hate crimes and domestic and international terrorism under U.S. law. She has also written on the capacity of courts, Inspectors General, and civil rights offices to monitor and oversee national security conduct. In March 2021, she testified on anti-Asian hate violence before the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties. She is a member of the American Law Institute and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.