(IBD) Fed Judge Says Oklahoma Courts must Accept Sharia Influence Over U.S. and state Constitutions

First Amendment: An Oklahoma constitutional amendment  barring the state's courts from weighing or using Shariah law was struck down in  federal court. How can a law written to protect the Constitution be unconstitutional?

 

 

Only in the parallel universe of judicial activists in which U.S. District  Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange resides can a law barring a particular religion's  influence over court decisions be considered under the First Amendment of the  Constitution as an unconstitutional establishment of competing religions.

 

"While the public has an interest in the will of the voters being carried  out, the court finds that the public has a more profound and long-term interest  in upholding an individual's constitutional rights,"

 

Miles-LaGrange wrote in her  decision.

 

That individual would be Muneer Awad, a Muslim and U.S. citizen who once was  executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic  Relations, and who filed a lawsuit on Nov. 4, 2010, seeking to block the Save  Our State amendment that had been approved by 70% of Oklahoma voters two days  earlier.

 

On Nov. 29, 2010, Miles-LaGranfe issued a preliminary injunction, finding  that Awad had legal standing and that the amendment likely violated both the  Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause.

On Thursday she issued a permanent injunction, writing in her order that "it  is abundantly clear that the primary purpose of the amendment was to  specifically target and outlaw Shariah law and to act as a pre-emptive strike  against Shariah law to protect Oklahoma from a perceived 'threat' of Shariah law  being utilized in Oklahoma courts."