Today, Florida State Sen. Alan Hays filed SB 386: Application of Foreign Law in Certain Cases. This is the senator’s fourth attempt to introduce and pass legislation aimed at banning the use of Sharia laws in the court system.
Last session’s bill, SB 58, seemed poised to become law after it passed the House, passed an important committee hurdle, and was lauded by the governor. In the end, however, the bill was narrowly defeated during a procedural vote.
SB 386 is part of a broader effort to pass laws nationwide dubbed “American Laws for American Courts” legislation, which are based on a draft by anti-Muslim lawyer David Yerushalmi. Ahead of the 2014 legislative sessions, the anti-Muslim grassroots organization ACT! for America has named 24 states as targets for such legislation. Similar measures have passed in seven states so far.
Sen. Hays has admitted that “infiltration and incursion of foreign laws” is a perceived problem that doesn’t exist, but he says sharia law is a “dreadful disease” and says his bill would serve as a vaccination against it.