US law journal elects its first Muslim president

BOSTON: The Harvard Law Review has named a Los Angeles-born Egyptian-American as, what it believes, is its first Muslim president in its 134-year history, elevating him to the top of one of the most prestigious US law journals.

Harvard Law School student Hassaan Shahawy said he hoped his election represented “legal academia’s growing recognition of the importance of diversity, and perhaps its growing respect for other legal traditions”.

Among the legal and political luminaries who have worked at the Harvard Law Review was former US president Barack Obama, named the journal’s first Black president in 1990.

Three serving members of the Supreme Court were editors of the Harvard Law Review, as were the late judges Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia.

“Coming from a community routinely demonised in American public discourse, I hope this represents some progress, even if small and symbolic,” Shahawy, 26, wrote in an email.

Law reviews are staffed by the top students at US law schools, who are often recruited for judicial clerkships and other prestigious jobs in the profession.