OKLAHOMA CITY, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- The state of Oklahoma asked a federal judge to abandon an injunction and allow a controversial measure banning Islamic law in state courts to take effect.
Voters overwhelmingly approved the measure Nov. 2. It would bar state courts from using international law or Shariah -- Islamic law -- in matters before the bench. State courts don't use Shariah law, but supporters of the ban say it's meant as a pre-emptive strike, The Tulsa World reported Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange issued a temporary restraining order preventing the ballot question from being implemented after Muneer Awad, executive director of the Oklahoma Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, sued to stop the measure.
A hearing on the injunction was scheduled for Monday in Oklahoma City.
Awad said the constitutional amendment brought his religion in disfavor while the state said Awad hasn't been harmed.
"Plaintiff is asking this court to completely veto the actions of 70 percent of the Oklahoma electorate without any proof of direct harm," state Assistant Attorneys General Scott Boughton and Janis W. Preslar said in a brief.
The ballot initiative does not favor or discriminate against any religion, the brief said.
"The reference to 'international law or Shariah law' is merely a subset of the references to 'precepts of other nations or cultures,'" the document said. "The measure bans, equally, all laws from other nations or cultures, including but not limited to international law and Shariah law."
