Posted on 12/08/2005 12:17:22 PM PST by Rebelbase
A judge today dismissed a lawsuit prompted by outcry over the inability of Muslims to be sworn in Guilford County courts using the Quran, a lawyer in the case said.
In throwing out the case, Superior Court Judge Donald L. Smith decided that no controversy existed because the plaintiff was still able to affirm she could truthfully testify despite not being allowed to swear on the Quran, attorney Seth Cohen said.
The plaintiffs in the case were the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and Greensboro Muslim Syidah Mateen. The defendant was the state of North Carolina because the plaintiffs were asking to clarify a state law referring to someone laying his hands on the “Holy Scriptures."
Guilford Senior Resident Superior Court Judge W. Douglas Albright and Guilford Chief District Court Judge Joseph E. Turner believed an oath on the Quran is not a legal oath based on their interpretation of that law.
In the suit, Mateen alleged she had appeared as a witness in a 2003 court hearing but was not allowed to take an oath on the Quran as she preferred.
Cohen, the ACLU's attorney, said the group would discuss whether to appeal Smith's ruling.
Smith has not yet made the ruling final by signing an order as of Thursday afternoon.
Grady Balentine, a lawyer with the N.C. Attorney General's office, said he wouldn't comment because the order had not been signed.
The plaintiffs in the case were the American Civil Liberties Union...That's all the judge needed to know right there.
I love to see the ACLU lose for a change!
about freakin time someone stood up to them..
what's wrong with you Americans? Why don't you cave into the Muslim demands like us wise old Europeans do?
Great work, Guilford County!
Why don't you cave into the Muslim demands like us wise old Europeans do?Give us time. We'll be caving soon enough.
Under the principle of Taqiya (takeyya), muslims are permitted to utter false oaths. So, there's little point in having them swear on the koran, anyway.
In a similar vein, whatever happened to the case involving that Muslim woman in Florida who refused to remove her scarf for a driver's license? Did she win that one?
"Great work, Guilford County!"
I'm sure it's just a fluke!
Please don't or we are all sunk.
Not to worry. This will reach a judge who will overturn this ruling.
Like hell we will!
Awwww, shucks. And here we were gonna buy them a nice pigskin bound Koran to swear upon before taking the stand.
She lost.
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