Karen Lugo

Founder, Libertas-West Project

Karen Lugo is the Director of the Center for Tenth Amendment Action at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. She joined the Foundation in September 2013.<br /> <br /> As Co-Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence Center in California, Lugo has submitted circuit-level and Supreme Court amicus briefs on such issues as Structural Separation of Powers; Federalism, Commerce Clause, and Police Powers; FISA Surveillance; Healthcare Reform; Arizona’s Border Security; Gay Marriage; The Ten Commandments and Public Prayer; Eminent Domain and Property Rights; Christian Clubs on University Campuses; and Material Support for Terrorists. She was a clinical visiting and adjunct professor at Chapman University School of Law where she co-taught the advanced Constitutional Law Clinic. Lugo recently taught a 2013 Human Rights law course on the contrast between French and English Enlightenment theory in Strasbourg, France.<br /> <br /> Lugo is the founder of the Libertas-West Project, a center for study Islamic integration and radicalization issues. In this capacity, she writes and speaks for European and American groups on the importance of basing assimilation efforts on principles of Western exceptionalism. She presented a policy brief to the French Conseil d’Etat analyzing the legal implications of banning the burqa. Lugo has written one of the most comprehensive overviews sharia law in American courts for the Federalist Society’s journal, Engage, titled: American Family Law and Sharia-Compliant Marriages. She is currently publishing a handbook through the Center for Security Policy on mosque building permits and the Religious Land and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and she presented a white paper on the American Law for American Courts legislative initiative and its compatibility with international adoption law.<br /> <br /> Lugo was an appointee to the California Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She was president of the Orange County, California, Federalist Society lawyer chapter for seven years and currently serves on the Federalist Society National Security and International Law Executive Committee. Lugo is a member of the David Horowitz Freedom Center Board of Directors. She is also on the board of advisors for Trinity Law School in California. Lugo has been a regular guest on theOrange County PBSlocal issues debate program, Inside OC, and she is a frequent contributor to Pajamas Media, National Review Online, Townhall.com, American Thinker, and Family Security Matters. She has been interviewed by dozens of radio hosts and has spoken for hundreds of civic groups on constitutional and cultural concerns.