The evil specter of Sharia Law has, once again, crept into the Texas Legislature.
Today, the House Judiciary Committee will be debating HB 45. If signed into law, it would basically mean that any ruling based on a foreign law would be null and void.
"A ruling or decision of a court, arbitrator, or administrative adjudicator may not be based on a foreign law if the application of that law would violate a right guaranteed by the United States Constitution or the constitution of this state," it reads.
The bill, filed by State Rep Dan Flynn (R-Conroe), would apply the same standards to contracts.
But Muslims, who are prepared to testify today, are up in arms about proposed legislation that they feel unfairly targets their faith. Sarwat Husain of San Antonio, who is with the Council on American Islamic Relations, says using an Imam to settle disputes is common to many religions. When it's Muslims, she says the far right wing gets scared.
"These people are wasting time on this. They are wasting tax payer money on this, because no other laws supersedes the laws the country," she tells Newsradio 1200 WOAI.
Some in Texas have long feared that, in Muslim majority neighborhoods, the church is going around the judicial system when it came to things like marriage disputes or disagreements between businesses. In 2015, Flynn asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton whether Texas courts could refuse to apply foreign laws or foreign rulings. In a non-binding opinion, Paxton said yes, if they contradict Texas laws or the state constitution.
Husain calls it political grandstanding."If there is some dispute between businesses or a husband and wife, they can go to the Imam to settle it. However, if they don’t want to follow it, they don’t have to."
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