Oct. 18, 2016
HARRISBURG — Legislation sponsored by House State Government Committee Chairman Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) to prohibit Pennsylvania courts and state judges from applying foreign legal code or legal systems, including sharia law, when doing so would conflict with the federal or state constitutions and/or infringe upon Constitutional rights, was advanced by the House State Government Committee on Tuesday.
“This legislation addresses an alarming trend across America where activist judges apply or sanction foreign law in cases such as family law,” said Metcalfe. “In particular, sharia law relegates women, children and non-Muslims to second-class citizens and allows for primitive treatment, fierce punishment, torture, mutilation and even ‘honor killings’ for anyone who refuses to comply with sharia mandates. If enacted,
House Bill 1288 would ensure that sharia law and all other unjust and barbaric foreign legal systems are forever banished from Pennsylvania courtrooms and that the Constitution remains supreme in the fair and equal dispensation of the rule of law.”
The fundamental liberties protected under House Bill 1288 include due process, right to bear arms, freedom of religion and speech, freedom of the press and any right of privacy that is defined in the Pennsylvania Constitution and the United States Constitution.
Most commonly referred to as American Laws for American Courts (ALAC), legislation similar to House Bill 1288 has been passed with strong bipartisan support in Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arizona, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi and South Dakota.
In Alabama, ALAC was passed as a Constitutional amendment on the 2014 ballot. Due to ALAC’s religious neutrality, not a single court challenge has been filed, despite the fact that it has been in place in Louisiana and Tennessee since 2010.
House Bill 1288 now advances to House floor consideration. For the latest legislative updates, visit
RepMetcalfe.com or
Facebook.com/RepMetcalfe.
Representative Daryl Metcalfe
12th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Ty McCauslin
717.772.9979
RepMetcalfe.com /
Facebook.com/RepMetcalfe