Anti-foreign law bill will protect all S.C. citizens

The US Report ^ | May 13, 2011 | Chris Carter

[Crush]

SC Senate bill 444 does not violate rights of Muslims, though Jihadists would have us believe otherwise.

The SC Senate is currently debating legislation that would ban the enforcement of foreign and religious laws - including Islamic sharia law – but opponents claim the bill would violate the constitutional rights of Muslims. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In April, a Judiciary subcommittee conducted two hearings (on two separate days) on Senate Bill 444, which would prevent foreign and religious law from violating an individual's constitutional rights. A third subcommittee hearing is in the offing.

South Carolina's bill does not mention sharia law, and appears to avoid religious infringement altogether, unless the religious law would violate the rights of another: “A court, arbitrator, … or enforcement authority may not enforce a foreign law if it would violate a constitutionally guaranteed right of this State or of the United States. The provisions of this section apply only to actual or foreseeable violations of the constitutional rights of a person caused by the application of the foreign law.”

Howard Stravitz, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, testified at the South Carolina subcommittee hearing that the bill would violate Muslims' freedom of religion. Stravitz did not respond to The US Report’s request for clarification.

“The backers of these discriminatory proposals realize if they put specific references to Sharia or Muslims, it won't pass constitutional muster,” said Ibrahim Hooper, Director of Communications at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

When The US Report contacted Hooper to clarify which elements of S. 444 he considered unconstitutional, Hooper instead sent material related to Oklahoma's attempt at banning sharia rather than South Carolina's legislation. Senate Question 755 was approved by 70 percent of voters in Oklahoma before being...

[RipSawyer]

What a strange world it has become when my state must pass a law saying that South Carolina will NOT be governed by FOREIGN law and some people have the nerve to protest against that. How deep does this rabbit hole really go?