NC (Republican) Legislature wants to protect me from Sharia
April 21, 2011 2 Comments
Well, apparently creating our own currency is not enough, now the Republicans in the NC legislature has taken on the oh-so-important cause of protecting me from Sharia law. Thank goodness. I was worried I was going to have my hand cut off for shoplifting. Via Laura Leslie:
The state House Judiciary C committee sent a bill to the House floor today, even though no one – not even the sponsor – could come up with any evidence that it’s needed.
House Bill 640, sponsored by Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, would, according to the bill analysis, “prohibit the application or enforcement of a foreign law in a legal proceeding if doing so would violate a right granted by the North Carolina or United States constitutions.” It would also nullify provisions in contracts or agreements “calling for the application of foreign law or choosing a foreign venue…if it violated a constitutional right of a party.”
Cleveland said the measure would protect North Carolinians from someone “going to a foreign law book.”
Democrats on the committee pointed out that the federal and state constitutions already supersede other laws, and that international law principles are well-established in courts and law schools.
Rep. Jennifer Weiss, D-Wake [my very cool rep], warned that the bill could cause serious problems for treaties and business contracts in NC. She asked for comment from the Department of Commerce and international business experts. Neither was there to testify.
“I’m not understanding the need for this law,” Weiss said. “I’m not sure what problem we’re fixing.”
Cleveland said he’s running the bill because of “a couple of federal cases a few years back.”
Rep. Verla Insko asked Cleveland twice for an example of a case that would show a need for the bill. “I do not have any specific examples off the top of my head,” Cleveland finally replied.
When Republicans campaigned in the Fall, they claimed that their focus would be about jobs. Instead we get our own currency, efforts to make guns more widely available, huge cuts in education, and now they’re going to protect us from Sharia. Of course, this all just means that representative democracy is a very blunt instrument. Because the economy was bad while Dems were in office, Reps get to take over and introduce all this stuff that has very little popular support (and is often just plain nuts). Ahhh, Democracy in action.
About Steve Greene
I don’t even understand how they feel that a bill like this would be relevant in the least. There are plenty of problems that need fixing, no need to invent new ones.
“Cleveland said the measure would protect North Carolinians from someone ‘going to a foreign law book.’”
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About time.
“Do you swear on this foreign law book to tell the truth, the whole truth …”