Texas Latest State to Seek Banning Courts from Considering Islamic Law

Texas lawmakers are considering whether to ban state courts from considering foreign religious or cultural laws, such as the Islamic law of Shari`ah.

A bill by State Representative Leo Berman to prevent foreign laws from being recognized in Texas courts, as well as a twin proposal by State Representative Randy, both of whom are Republicans, went before the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence last week. Both bills were left pending.

Neither of the two bills specifically name Shari`ah, but representative Leo Berman and others have cited it as a concern. They note increasing instances of other states recognizing foreign laws to, for example, give a father custody of a child or deny a restraining order for a wife, saying a husband acted under Shariah.

"We all know what Shariah law does to women - women must wear burqas, women are subject to humiliation and into controlled marriages under Shariah law," Berman said. "We want to prevent it from ever happening in Texas."

The goal "is to require a Texas court to uphold and apply only the laws ordained by the constitutions of (Texas and the United States), prohibiting any other interpretation," said Berman. "This is now happening all over Europe ... and in Dearborn, Mich. ... and it could spread throughout the United States.

Texas is the latest in a string of several states - including Alaska, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Tennessee - considering bans on the recognition of foreign laws, according to the Institute for U.S. Law.

Several civil-rights and interfaith groups have blasted the legislative efforts in Texas and other states as unconstitutional and unfair to Muslims.

"It's not just happening in Dearborn," Pat Carlson, a Fort Worth woman and president of the conservative Texas Eagle Forum, told the committee. "This is something happening in other states."

When asked by a committee member whether she thinks Shari`ah is invading the country, Carlson said, "It has got tentacles in our country."

Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union and Texas Freedom Network were among those opposing the bill, although they did not testify.

Some committee members questioned whether the bill is needed.

"Even if what you are saying is true, there are extremists on every end of the political spectrum," said Democratic Represetative Joaquin Castro, a committee member. "So what makes you think they're going to take over the country?"

Lee Parsley, president of the Austin-based Texas Civil Justice League, said a broad bill preventing foreign laws could affect companies doing business in Texas that might agree, for instance, to operate under Mexican law to curb liabilities.

"I have concerns for Texas businesses," said Parsley, of the lawsuit reform coalition group. "It creates uncertainty for contracts."

But Dorrie O'Brien, a Grand Prairie woman who worked to add a plank to the Republican Party of Texas' platform in 2010 asking state lawmakers not to let Shari`ah be recognized in Texas, said lawmakers need to take a stand.

"Shariah law is a complete way of life," she said. "We cannot have a substitute law ... running alongside our Constitution.

"There can only be one set of law recognized in the United States. Shari`ah law goes against everything that we believe in."

Weber said Shari`ah is not the only foreign law that he and others are concerned about.

"We are concerned about any other foreign law," he said. "This is a unique opportunity ... to do something really historic.

"It doesn't mean that we are paranoid. It just means we protect our own."