Muslims are the fastest rising religious group in Texas; in fact, statistics from the 2010 Census indicate that the Lone Star State has the largest population of Islamic faithful in the United States. It can be safely assumed that some Texan Muslims abide by Sharia, a code of law that comes from the Koran and the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed; however, how likely are Texas courts to apply Islamic law in certain situations?
Some state legislators are concerned about Sharia making its way to the Texas court system, and they have been pushing for clarifications on this issue. There is some precedent of federal courts applying international law in extraordinary cases that spanned across jurisdictions, but not so much with regard to religious law. Still, Texas legislators such as Representative Dan Flynn and Senator Donna Campbell would like to ensure that state courts will not base their rulings based upon laws that are not the Lone Star statutes.
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In 2015, the Texas Senate passed a bill to reaffirm that foreign laws are not used by state court judges. Such a measure may seem redundant since international law rarely applies at the state level; however, supporters of the law are concerned about family court cases that have allowed involvement of Amish, Rabbinical and Mormon law in Pennsylvania, New York and Utah. It is unclear whether this bill can actually prevent Texas family judges to refer to Islamic law since Sharia is not a jurisdiction per se, and thus cannot be considered foreign.
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Texas Pass Law Doing Away With Sharia Law For Good
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