Rep. Gerald Gay of Wisconsin has proposed an amendment to the state’s constitution banning judges from making rulings based on Islamic Sharia law, the Casper Star-Tribune reports.
Supporters of the proposed amendment argue that it is a “pre-emptive strike” to prevent Sharia courts from being established in the state, as has happened in the United Kingdom. In Britain, Muslims can voluntarily settle their disputes in courts where judges make their verdicts based on Sharia law.
Opponents note that there has not been a single case yet of a Sharia-based ruling in the state and that it is discriminatory against Muslims.
In November, a ban on Sharia-based court rulings was passed in Oklahoma with 70 percent of the vote but the Council on American-Islamic Relations sued, arguing it violated religious freedom by singling out Islam. U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange issued a temporary restraining order preventing the enforcement of the ban.
“This measure casts aside the principle of equality under the law and returns us to separate but unequal citizenship classes…they exploited the growing anti-Islam sentiment in American society to demonize Islam and marginalize Oklahoma’s Muslim community,” a press release from CAIR reads.
However, another American-Muslim organization supported the Oklahoma ban. “As Americans we believe in the Constitution, the Establishment Clause, and our one law system. SQ755 reaffirms the First amendment to the Constitution and prevents the Establishment or empowerment of a foreign legal system like the specific shariah legal systems implemented in many Muslim majority nations and in western shariah courts seen in places like Britain,” a statement from the American-Islamic Forum for Democracy said.
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