What factors allow a system of law to provide civil protections and liberties for some, but deprivation and death for others?1 This question is significant for the protection of all civil liberties, since the erosion of one American’s civil liberties is a threat to civil liberties nationally. In response, I argue that segregation sustains and exacerbates Islamophobia, because the two are mutually constitutive. The claims and evidence that follow substantiate the argument by demonstrating that the law can work in concert with the state to legally impose segregation – in this case the segregation of Muslim Americans following the September 11 terror attacks. In fact, there is quite a long legacy of legally imposed segregation in the United States, mostly levied against minorities, which culminated into the iconic civil rights struggle of the 1960s.