Pathbreakers of Arab America—Justin Amash

posted on: Jun 26, 2024

By: John Mason / Arab America Contributing Writer

This is the fifty-first of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our fifty-first pathbreaker is Justin Amash, a lawyer and politician who has served Michiganders in the Michigan House of Representatives and the U.S. House of Representatives. He is the child of a Palestinian Christian father and a Syrian Christian mother, who immigrated to the U.S. Justin is a principled politician who is difficult to pigeonhole by his party affiliation since he roots his support of issues in his understanding of constitutional law. He supports Palestinians in Gaza, where several of his relatives have been killed in the war.

Justin Amash, the maverick politician who doesn’t fit party molds, deeply roots his political philosophy in the Constitution and Libertarianism

Justin A. Amash was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on April 18, 1980, the second of three sons. His father, Attallah Amash, is a Palestinian Christian whose family lived in Ramla until Israeli soldiers forcibly expelled them during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Attallah and his family immigrated to the United States in 1956 when he was 16. Amash’s mother, Mimi, is a Syrian Christian who met her husband through family friends in Damascus, Syria. They married in 1974 S, and the two married in 1974.

According to an Arab America report, “Like many Arab Americans, Amash grew up as an active member of his local community in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He and his family are long-time members of St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church. He and his two brothers John and Jeff grew up in a bi-lingual home that appreciated their heritage and embraced the opportunities in the United States. He married his high school sweetheart, Kara Day, and they have three children.”

Justin attended the University of Michigan, graduating in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with high honors. Amash then attended the University of Michigan Law School, graduating with a Juris Doctor in 2005. After graduating from law school, according to Wikipedia, Amash worked as a lawyer at a Grand Rapids law firm for a short stint, then became a consultant to his dad’s successful Michigan Industrial Tools Inc. before running and being elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2008. He represented Michigan’s 72d district.

Justin then ran and was elected as the U.S. representative for Michigan’s 3rd congressional district from 2011 to 2021. He was the second Palestinian American member of Congress. Originally a Republican, Amash left the GOP and became an Independent on July 4, 2019. In April 2020, he joined the Libertarian Party, leaving Congress in January 2021 as the only Libertarian to serve in Congress. In changing parties the way he has, Justin is a rarity in Congress.

Amash received national attention when he became the first Republican congressman to call for the impeachment of Donald Trump, a position he maintained after leaving the party. Amash formed an exploratory committee to seek the Libertarian Party presidential nomination in the 2020 election, before announcing in May of that year that he would not run for president. He did not seek reelection to Congress in 2020. On February 29, 2024, Amash announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Michigan.

Amash depicts himself as a libertarian who dissents from both Republican and Democratic leadership more frequently than most Republican members of Congress. He was once seen as one of the most libertarian members of Congress. Some Republican congressmen describe Amash as a “gadfly,” mostly due to his staunchly libertarian and sometimes contrarian views. The three legs of the stool he relies on are “limited government, economic freedom, and individual liberty.” Justin complains, “The American two-party system results in “the actual process of legislating [being] all but forgotten.”

A few examples of Amash’s Constitutionally rooted Libertarian political philosophy show that he is not a straight-down-the-line conservative:

–Would abolish the death penalty at the federal level
–Favors legalizing cannabis at the federal level
–Critical of over-regulation of the environment
–Supported a revised version of the American Health Care Act
–Supported the Supreme Court decision that same-sex couples can marry
–Co-sponsored a resolution to block Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to redirect funds to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border
–Supports a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Amash is openly critical of Donald Trump, exemplified by some of his statements. Combatting Trump’s tweets criticizing Representative John Lewis (D-GA), Amash tweeted back, “Dude, just stop.” His rationale was that Trump simply “wouldn’t stop” bashing Lewis. Justin later characterized Trump as a “childish bully.” Amash was the first Republican member of Congress to call for Trump’s impeachment. At a town hall meeting in his district back in Michigan, Amash received a standing ovation from the majority of attendees for his stance against Trump.

Amash announced Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, according to the Associated Press (AP), that he would enter the race as a Republican for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat. “The decision to jump into the Republican primary comes after Amash left the party to become an independent.

Amash, first Palestinian American to serve as US Congress member loses family members killed in Gaza church blast

Late in October, shortly after the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war, Amash confirmed that several of his relatives were killed. He reported, according to The Guardian, that “he was grieving after several of his relatives were killed at a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza that authorities report was hit by an Israeli airstrike. Justin Amash detailed his sorrow over losing family members amid the Israel-Hamas war in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.”

Justin shared, “I was really worried about this. With great sadness, I have now confirmed that several of my relatives … were killed at Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza, where they had been sheltering, when part of the complex was destroyed as the result of an Israeli airstrike.” Furthermore, Amash wrote in a post that pictured two lost family members, Viola and Yara.

The ex-congressman’s post continued: “Give rest, O Lord, to their souls, and may their memories be eternal. The Palestinian Christian community has endured so much. Our family is hurting badly. May God watch over all Christians in Gaza – and all Israelis and Palestinians who are suffering, whatever their religion or creed.” Amash later posted a message thanking members of the public for their condolences and published “a gut-wrenching image of a dead baby being lifted out of the rubble, whom he identified as his second-cousin, George. This beautiful baby committed no crimes, harmed no person,” Amash said.

The church authority that runs Saint Porphyrius, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, subsequently reported, “Many of those inside at the time of the missile strike were women and children.” The patriarchate accused Israel of targeting churches, which it condemned. Continuing, The Guarding reported, “Israel’s military said in response it had damaged a wall of a church while hitting a Hamas command and control center nearby, but it denied deliberately targeting Saint Porphyrius.”

Justin Hamas is a trained lawyer, he is steeped in a constitutional interpretation of governance, a Libertarian who believes in limited government, economic freedom, and individual liberty. His participation in politics as a Republican, Independent, and Libertarian is unique. Justin is a maverick, in the positive sense of the term, in this case, someone who practices morally and ethically defined politics in an environment that is becoming less receptive to serious debate.

Sources:
–“Justin Amash,” Wikipedia, 2024
–“Justin Amash announces Republican bid for Michigan US Senate seat after having previously left GOP,” AP, 2/29/2024
–“Former US congressman says family members killed in Gaza church blast,” The Guardian, 10/21/2023
–“Justin Amash: Who is He, What Does He Stand for, and What Should We Expect in the Future?” Arab America, 5/27/2020

John Mason, Ph.D., focuses on Arab culture, society, and history and is the author of LEFT-HANDED IN AN ISLAMIC WORLD: An Anthropologist’s Journey into the Middle East, New Academia Publishing, 2017. He has taught at the University of Libya, Benghazi, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, and the American University in Cairo; John served with the United Nations in Tripoli, Libya, and consulted extensively on socioeconomic and political development for USAID and the World Bank in 65 countries.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab America. The reproduction of this article is permissible with proper credit to Arab America and the author.

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