Asma Uddin

I study and write about constitutional law, religious freedom, free speech, and human rights, with a particular interest in how law operates in religiously and politically diverse societies. My research explores questions of constitutional interpretation, judicial decision-making, religious and cognitive liberty, and the role of courts and legal argument in shaping democratic legitimacy and public trust.

A major focus of my work is Islam and religious freedom, particularly the ways law and politics define, regulate, and sometimes exclude Muslim religious identity and practice. In When Islam Is Not a Religion, I examine how claims about Islam being political, ideological, or something other than a “real” religion can be used to place Muslims outside the protections ordinarily associated with religious freedom. My work on identity capitalism similarly considers how Muslim identity is used strategically within legal and political debates. More broadly, I am interested in what debates about Islam reveal about the meaning and limits of religious freedom itself.