The East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), the Texas mosque behind the development of a residential and commercial center known as EPIC City, have hired a prominent attorney to represent them after Gov. Greg Abbott accused them of planning to build a city founded on Sharia law.
NBCDFW.com reports the mosque has retained Dan Cogdell, principal and founder of Cogdell Law Firm in Houston. Cogdell most recently represented Attorney General Ken Paxton in his 2023 impeachment trial, which ended in his acquittal, and previously won acquittals in the historic Branch Davidian Trial and Enron Trial.
EPIC City is proposed for a 402-acre property near the town of Josephine. The development would feature more than 1,000 homes, an Islamic religious school for grades K-12, a community college, retail stores, and a mosque.
However, both Abbott and Paxton have raised concerns that EPIC City would be a Muslim-only community governed by Sharia law. Both the governor and attorney general have launched multiple investigations into the development, including probes into whether the project would violate the Texas Fair Housing Act and whether it would create potential financial harm to the region.
Cogdell has pushed back, claiming faith-based discrimination.
“EPIC City is a thoughtful community designed for families, just like hundreds of others in Texas,” he said. “The only reason it is being unfairly targeted is because there is a mosque in the plans instead of a church or a temple. That’s it. This is fearmongering and political theater, and we intend to shut it down with the truth.”
Cogdell added his clients were “suffering from essentially gubernatorial hate speech” and received death threats due to the attacks by the elected officials.
“What’s happened, primarily from Governor Abbott’s office, is hate speech,” he continued. “I’m ashamed. I’m ashamed of the falsehoods that Abbott’s office has been putting out. It’s nonsense. For him to call this a compound is an outright lie, and it’s an insult, and it’s doing nothing but try to demonize faithful, religious, honest, hard-working people. I’m ashamed that he’s gone that far.”
Cogdell also pointed out the developers have yet to apply for any permits to build EPIC City.
“They intend to follow all the laws from the Fair Housing Standards Act and the zoning laws,” said Cogdell. “My clients are law-abiding Texans, law-abiding Americans and law-abiding Muslims.”
Photo: Artist’s rendering of the proposed EPIC City.
