HOUSTON, Texas - November 29, 2010 - An Oklahoma constitutional amendment aimed at stopping the use of Islamic law in its courts was dealt a serious blow on Monday when a federal judge temporarily blocked the state from putting it into effect.
The amendment would forbid state judges from considering Islamic or international law in their decisions. Known as State Question 755, the measure passed with 70% of the vote during the Republican landslide on November 2 and has generated bitter debate.
Muslims claim the state is discriminating against their religion, while supporters - many of them Christian conservatives - say the amendment is needed to thwart what they maintain is an effort by radical Muslims to impose Shariah law in the United States.
Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange of Federal District Court in Oklahoma City, however, said in her decision to grant a preliminary injunction on Monday that the measure did not appear to pass constitutional muster.
It conveys a message, she said, that the state favors one religion or particular belief over others. The federal courts have long held that such a message violates the First Amendment’s clause prohibiting the establishment of a state religion, she said.
“While defendants contend that the amendment is merely a choice-of-law provision that bans state courts from applying the law of other nations or cultures - regardless of what faith they may be based on, if any - the actual language of the amendment reasonably, and perhaps more reasonably, may be viewed as specifically singling out Shariah law, conveying a message of disapproval of plaintiff’s faith,” the judge wrote.
