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Oklahoma voters make English official
language, ban judges from using international law
November 2, 2010
Two very
good news from the Sooner State.
State votes to make English official language.
State votes to make English official language.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma voters have approved a measure requiring that all official state actions be conducted in English.Voters ban judges from using international law. Though Muslims aren't happy, calling it an attack on Islam and planning to fire a lawsuit.
The author of the official English bill, Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, has said that English and the "melting pot" process it makes possible, "has made the United States the most successful multiethnic nation in history."
The measure drew opposition from several groups, including the League of Women Voters of Oklahoma, which says the question discriminates against new citizens who want to do business with the state.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Oklahoma voters have approved a measure that would forbid judges from considering international law or Islamic law when deciding cases.
Republican Rex Duncan, the sponsor of the measure, called it a "pre-emptive strike" designed to close the door on activist judges "legislating from the bench or using international law or Sharia law."
Members of the Muslim community called the question an attack on Islam and some of them said they are prepared to file a lawsuit challenging the measure.
Sharia law banned:
Oklahoma to become the first U.S. state to veto
use of Islamic code
By Daily Mail Reporter 2nd November
2010
Oklahoma is set to become the first state in
America to outlaw Sharia law.
Voters were
expected to rule it illegal for judges to rely on the Islamic code when
ruling on cases following a state-wide ballot.
Proponents
of the ban said it was a ‘preemptive strike’ to stop Oklahoma suffering
the same fate as European countries such as Britain, where Sharia is
routinely used in Muslim communities.
Even
though Oklahoma has a very small proportion of Muslims - just 15,000 out
of a population of 3.7million - they want to stamp out the problem
before it begins.
Around a dozen other states
will be watching closely to see if the proposition is approved amid
heightened anti-Muslim sentiment fueled by row over the Ground Zero
Mosque.
The Republican-controlled state
legislature in Oklahoma has already passed State Question 755, or ‘Save
Our State’ with an 82-10 vote in the House of Representative and a 41-2
vote in the Senate.
It is aimed at ‘cases of
the first impression’, or legal disputes where there is now law to
resolve the issue at hand.
In these
instances, judges might look to other jurisdictions for guidance, but
the proposed amendment would block judges in Oklahoma courts from
drawing on Sharia, or the laws of other nations.
Supporters of the proposal acknowledge that they do not know of a
single case of Sharia being used in Oklahoma.
They
also admit that the state has not suffered at the hands of Islamic
terrorists, although in 1995 Timothy McVeigh, who was not a Muslim,
blew up a building in Oklahoma City and killed 168 people, including 19
children.
Sharia has many interpretations
and in Britain Islamic courts are often used to resolve community
disputes involving minor disagreements or matters not considered
appropriate for conventional legal measures.
In
some countries, however, it has been used to ‘justify cruel punishments
such an amputation and stoning as well as unequal treatment of women in
inheritance, dress and independence,’ according to the Council on
Foreign Relations.
A poll by The Tulsa World
newspaper earlier this year indicated broad support for the proposition -
49% of voters backed it compared to 24% who opposed it and 27% who were
undecided.
Tension has been heightened by
radio adverts paid for by Act for America, an advocacy group, which gave
graphic descriptions of cases Sharia law had let men beat and rape
their wives without punishing them.
Rex
Duncan, the Republican state representative and author of the
proposition, said supporters in more than a dozen other states were
ready to follow Oklahoma’s lead.
‘I see this
in the future somewhere in America,’ he said.
‘It's
not an imminent threat in Oklahoma yet, but it's a storm on the horizon
in other states.
‘It should not matter what
France might do, what Great Britain might do, or what the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia might do.
‘Court
decisions ought to be based on federal law, or state law.’
Muslims, however, were outraged at the proposal
and said it was an overreaction.
Saad Mohammed
of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City said: ‘There's no
threat of sharia law coming to Oklahoma and America, period. ‘It's just a
scare tactic.’
The society’s president
Saleem Quraishi added: ‘It’s just fear mongering; it's nothing. ‘What's
Sharia law have to do with Oklahoma?’
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