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PrintNovember 23, 2010
Federal judge delays decision on Oklahoma's Sharia ban
The Oklahoman reports that on Monday U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange (a Clinton appointee) extended the temporary restraining order she issued two weeks ago which prevented the board of elections from certifying the passage of an amendment to the state constitution which would bar the use of Sharia or international law to decide cases in Oklahoma state courts. Miles-LaGrange said that she will make her ruling on the case next Monday after considering the issues.
The citizens of Oklahoma passed the amendment (State Question 755) on November 2 with over 70% of the vote. The suit was brought before Miles-LaGrange by Muneer Awad the executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations who initially chose to represent himself. According to the Tulsa World, Awad has since retained Michael Salem as his attorney. Salem has disparaged the authors of the amendment as “xenophobic merchants of fear and hate.”
Assistant Attorney General Scott Boughton said that Awad had not been harmed by the measure, adding that the plaintiff has a huge hurdle to overcome in seeking to ask that the will of the voters be overturned.
The right of the people of Oklahoma to amend their own constitution in a free and democratic manner is being challenged by U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange. The real issue here is whether activist judges like Miles-LaGrange should be allowed to continue to legislate from the bench as a means of furthering their own liberal agenda at the expense of the will of the people.
