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Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sent a letter to North Texas district attorneys and sheriffs, the Attorney General of Texas, and the Texas Department of Public Safety, calling for an investigation into Sharia tribunals in Texas.
In the letter, he wrote: “The U.S. Constitution’s religious protections provide no authority for religious courts to skirt state and federal laws simply by donning robes and pronouncing positions inconsistent with Western civilization.”
He continued: “I urge you, therefore, to investigate efforts by entities purporting to illegally enforce Sharia law in Texas. Legal disputes in Texas must be decided based on American law rooted in the fundamental principles of American due process—not according to Sharia law dispensed in modern-day star chambers.”
The Texas Legislature recently passed a law banning the use of foreign laws (including Sharia law) in certain family-law cases—a measure that has been a hot-button issue for conservatives in the state for months.