Bill to ban foreign law in Montana moves forward

State legislation to ban foreign laws from being implemented in Montana courts was passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote of 7-3 Tuesday.

Proponents of the measure, sponsored by Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, turned out in droves for the committee’s hearing on Senate Bill 97 last week to speak against what many saw as the threat of Sharia Law, the legal code of Islam, working its way into the American legal system.

Opponents, including representatives from the Montana Human Rights Network and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, countered that because the United States and Montana constitutions already establish the supremacy of domestic law, the proposal is unnecessary. They also condemned the bill as implicitly discriminatory against Muslims.

Before the committee’s vote Tuesday, Sen. Jedediah Hinkle, R-Belgrade, argued against that characterization, pointing out that the bill does not contain any explicit references to religion.

“This bill is not an anti-religion bill. It’s not an anti-Muslim bill,” Hinkle said. “All this bill does is reinforce that all laws that are foreign, across the world, may not enter into our courts.”

The three Democrats on the panel argued the opposite, saying that the state Legislature should trust the judicial system to uphold its constitutional mandates.

“I don’t think the bill does anything more than our constitution already does,” Sen. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, said. “I consider it unnecessary and harmful to the public conversation.”

Before the vote to recommend passage of the bill, the committee unanimously passed an amendment proposed by Sen. Jennifer Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, to clean up a grammatical error. The measure now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.