“Creeping sharia” in American law?

As I explain in a new Cato post, Eugene Volokh has been blogging this week on the proper role of the courts in recognizing or ignoring religious law, whether Christian, Jewish, or Islamic. Oklahoma passed a measure banning by name the use of Islamic sharia law, but the Tenth Circuit struck that law down as discriminating against a particular religion. Meanwhile, lawmakers in other states have introduced legislation on the subject. Earlier.

One Comment

  • These are complicated issues and on some of them more than one position can claim a plausible libertarian-classical liberal basis. Volokh makes a strong case that we can be comfortable on a practical as well as a constitutional level with recognizing for Islamic believers the same rights as are enjoyed by believers in all other systems. I think his analysis is particularly incisive on questions of accommodation in government services (if schools close for Christmas, must they also close for holidays of other religions? Is it improper for a city-run airport to designate prayer or ablutional space for devout taxi drivers? Etc.)