Oklahoma became the first U.S. state to ban the non-existent threat of Sharia law yesterday. Nearly 70 percent of voters there approved ballot initiative “Question 755” – or the “Save Our State” constitutional amendment – which bans Sharia from being considered in Oklahoma courts. The ballot states that Oklahoma courts must “rely on federal and state law when deciding cases” and forbids them from “considering or using international law” and “from considering or using Sharia Law.”

The measure’s sponsor, Republican state senator Rex Duncan, called the result a “preemptive strike” against local judges whom he thinks might be “legislating from the bench or using international law or Sharia law.”

Think Progress, 3 November 2010

See also Weblog of Dawud Walid, 3 November 2010

And “Law professor: ban on Sharia law ‘a mess'”, CNN, 3 November 2010

Update:  See “Lawsuit expected Thursday challenging Shariah law vote”, Tulsa World, 3 November 2010