mr. acosta was u.s. attorney for the southern district where he handled the prosecutions for jack before or after for hard, jose padilla for terrorism and george taylor, jr. for torture. prior to that, mr. acosta served as assistant attorney general of the civil rights division where he led the justice department's efforts to combat the post-9/11 lack bash against the arab muslim americans. he served on the national labor relations board and worked at the law firm of kirkland and ellis. he received his b.a. from happy birthday college his law degree from happy birthday law school. he was an intern for samuel alito. i would ask all witnesses if you don't mind, to please stand and i will administer the oath. you affirmly the testimony you are about to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. >> i do. >> let the record reflect that all three witnesses have answered in the affirmative. ms. khera please proceed with your opening statement. >> great. good morning, mr. c

mr. acosta, please proceed with your testimony, your written statement will be made part of the record. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and chairman durbin, senator kyl, good morning. i want to take a minute to thank you for holding this important hearing and i also want to take a minute to thank the assistant attorney general perez for his words and his division's current efforts. general perez graciously made an important point that the protection of religious liberties is a bipartisan issue. muslim americans should take comfort in knowing that the effort to protect religious liberties has been ongoing since 9/11. has transcended the bipartisan divide and i hope continues to transcend the partisan divide. the title of today's hearing references american muslims, and i thought it appropriate to begin by discussing two such individuals. the first is a student at the law school where i'm now dean. he's a candidate for student body president. i asked him to send him an email about himself. i was going to summarize it but i'm going to quote it in full because i thought it made a powerful point.

mr. acosta, please proceed with your testimony. your written statement will be made part of the record. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to take a moment to thank you for holding this hearing. general perez made an important point that the protection of religious liberties is a bipartisan issue. muslim americans should take comfort in knowing that the effort to protect their religious liberties have been ongoing since 9/11. they have transcended the partisan divide. the title of today's hearing references american muslims and i thought it a perfect to begin by discussing two such individuals. the first is a student at the law school where i am now dean. he is one of our student leaders. he is a candidate for student body president. i asked him to send an e-mail about himself. i was going to summarize it, but i will quote in full. "i am a muslim, born and raised in the united states. i suppose, by most people's standards, much of a was normal. i went to school, tried to get out of doing homework, and spent entirely too much time wa

mr. caldwell was released from the san francisco county jail after a judge offturned his murder conviction. he was convicted of second- degree murder for the shooting death of judy acosta in june of 19 0. now, after two decades in jail, a nevada inmate confessed to the crime and more people came forward. >> i feel bad for the loss after all of these years. they thought they had justice. >> now, prosecutors in this case were hoping for a retrial but some of the original evidence was destroyed by the courts. prosecutors may consider an appeal. as for maurice caldwell. he says he just wants to move on with his life. authorities in southern california shut down a house that had been serving as a maternity ward. why women pay tens of thousands of dollars just to stay there. >>> also, the huge response at this month's apple event known for big product announcements like the iphone. >>> federal officials are trying to figure out what caused a small hole in the side of a u.s. airways jet. the pilot discovered the hole into a mandatory pre-flight inspection. the flight flew to charlotte, north carolina. there were no problem reported during the flight but the plane was taken ou

mr. acosta, will you address that, this question of sharia law. >> i will try to do so.confess to not being familiar with the details of sharia law. i guess i have two thoughts. first, i would have concerns about equal protection issues while a legislature or state can certainly determine to what lost -- laws a state court will look. there are concerns when a particular type of law or a particular type of religion is singled out against others in much the same way that you cannot ban a headscarf but allow other head coverings. second, i would also note that, as a general rule, courts to not apply for an laws or religious laws -- foreign laws or religious laws. that context that that might come up, a contract or a of well, references another jurisdiction, it is the individuals who are signatories that are asking the court to look beyond the local jurisdiction and apply that other law. this is a fairly unusual circumstance that would come up. >> i do not want to miss state your position. initially, you said neutrality. >> yes. >> you would put whatever that religious belie