Oklahoma Voters Ban Judges From Using Islamic Law

[Abu Talib]

Oklahoma voters have approved a measure that would forbid judges from considering international law or Islamic law when deciding cases.

Republican Rex Duncan, the sponsor of the measure, called it a "pre-emptive strike" designed to close the door on activist judges "legislating from the bench or using international law or Sharia law."

Members of the Muslim community
called the question an attack on Islam and some of them said they are prepared to file a lawsuit challenging the measure.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/02/oklahoma-voters-ban-judges-using-islamic-law/

 

[Abu Talib]

"Muslim Sues Oklahoma Over Anti-Shariah Ballot Measure" Fox News

Just two days after Oklahoma voters approved a ballot measure banning state courts from considering Islamic or international law when ruling on cases, a local Muslim has filed a federal lawsuit saying the measure is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit against ballot measure, State Question 755 – or better known as "Save Our State" -- seeks a temporary restraining order to block the results of the election from being certified by the state Election Board on Nov. 9. The measure is scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1.

Oklahoma residents approved the measure with 70 percent of the vote in Tuesday's election.

But Muneer Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma who filed the lawsuit, said that the measure is unnecessary because there is no threat of an Islamic takeover of state courts. Muslims make up only 30,000 of the state's nearly 4 million residents – less than 1 percent.

Awad said the measure violates his First Amendment right to freedom of religion because it singles out Islam. He said the measure is just another way to politically savage Muslims.

The Islamic community in Oklahoma has complained about the past actions of the state legislature, including a proposal to forbid Muslim women from wearing head garments in driver's license photos and refusing to accept a Koran from a Muslim advisory council at an official state ceremony.

Proponents of the anti-Islamic law measure have cited a New Jersey family court judge's decision not to grant a restraining order to a woman who was sexually abused by her Moroccan husband and forced repeatedly to have sex with him.

The judge ruled that her ex-husband felt he had behaved according to his Muslim beliefs and that he did not have "criminal desire to or intent to sexually assault" his wife.

But New Jersey's Appellate Court overturned the decision in July, ruling that the husband's religious beliefs were irrelevant and that the judge, in taking them into consideration, "was mistaken."

Shariah is the basis of law in most Islamic countries, though its implementation varies. It has been used in Iran and Somalia, among other places, to condone harsh punishments like amputations and stoning.

Proponents of the Oklahoma ballot measure say the possibility of Shariah law coming to American isn't remote, pointing to Britain, where at least 85 Shariah courts are operating.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/04/muslim-sues-oklahoma-anti-shariah-ballot-measure/

 

[Aapa]

Salaam,

We have two threads on the same subject. Could someone please combine the two.

 

[JenGiove]

:salam2:

Well, So there I was, reading this to my husband and telling him to remind me to NEVER live in Ok and I started reading the article. Now, granted, I don't know much about Shariah law but my understanding is that it is law judgments based on Qur'anic teachings.

So I'm sitting here being all up in arms like and he stops me and says: "the problem is that either way, allowing judges to consider Shariah law in decisions or not allowing it breaks the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."


Allowing it violates it from the courts prospective: respecting the establishment of religion.

But disallowing it violates it from the right to freedom of religion: prohibiting the free exercise of religion.

I'm still not going to live in Ok.....

 

[Aapa]

Salaam,

The pertinent issue is the elasticity of the laws in the US. Things can be amedmended. A seemingly innoncent bend in the rules has far reaching consequences. When one has the name of a Newt Gingrich behind it ...this means big time. This is the testing ground for the first amendment. Think of this as a pebble in the pond..it will ripple. That is a concern.

 

[JenGiove]

Salaam,

The pertinent issue is the elasticity of the laws in the US. Things can be amedmended. A seemingly innoncent bend in the rules has far reaching consequences. When one has the name of a Newt Gingrich behind it ...this means big time. This is the testing ground for the first amendment. Think of this as a pebble in the pond..it will ripple. That is a concern.

Maybe it is because I do not know enough but I ask....what do you fear will happen?

 

[Aapa]

Assalaam walaikum,

I am no legalist. I am simply old. If you place a law into effect..it has a tendency to go in other directions...precedent. Let us say at this moment you focus on Shiria..ok..no big deal...well next thing I know..I can extend this law and decide the Mormoms have law that can not be used in a defense..forgive me for my lack of knowledge...you go back and say well we have a law about Shiria..we can extend that to the Mormans and so forth.
That is my concern.

 

[Abu Talib]

Court order blocks Okla. amendment on Islamic law

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday to block a new amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would prohibit state courts from considering international or Islamic law when deciding cases.

U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange handed down the order after an Oklahoma man filed a lawsuit claiming the amendment stigmatized his religion and would invalidate his will, which he said is partially based on Islamic Law, also known as Sharia Law.

"My constitutional rights are being violated through the condemnation of my faith," said Muneer Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma. "Islam was the target of this amendment. This amendment does not have a secular purpose."

The measure, State Question 755, was approved with 70 percent of the vote in the Nov. 2 general election. The judge's order prevents the state Election Board from certifying the results of that vote, which it had planned to do Tuesday afternoon.

The order will remain in effect until a Nov. 22 hearing on a preliminary injunction.

Awad, a law school graduate who has not been admitted to practice in Oklahoma, was congratulated by Muslims and other supporters following Miles-Lagrange's ruling. Between 20,000 and 30,000 Muslims live in the state.

"We're confident in the case. We're confident in the claims we are making," said Awad, who filed the lawsuit Thursday. "Today's ruling is a reminder of the strength of our nation's legal system and the protections it grants to religious minorities."

The measure's author, Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, attended the brief court hearing and said afterward he was surprised by Miles-Lagrange's decision.

"It thwarts the will of the people," said Duncan, an attorney who was elected district attorney in the northern Oklahoma counties of Osage and Pawnee in the general election.

Duncan has said the constitutional amendment was not intended as an attack on Muslims but an effort to prevent activist judges from relying on international law or Islamic law when ruling on legal cases.

In 2007, Duncan rejected a Quran as a gift from a council created by Gov. Brad Henry, explaining that "most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology."

The constitutional amendment was one of several on Oklahoma's ballot that critics said pandered to conservatives and would move the state further to the right.

Among other things, Awad's lawsuit alleges the measure transforms Oklahoma's Constitution into "an enduring condemnation" of Islam by singling it out and barring courts from referring to Islamic law. It also alleges it violates the First Amendment's prohibition against laws regarding the establishment of religion.

Legal experts also have questioned the measure. Joseph Thai, a professor at the University of Oklahoma's College of Law, said the ballot measure is "an answer in search of a problem" and that there is no danger of international law or Sharia law overtaking the American legal system