University of Chicago Law School Chicago Unbound Journal Articles Faculty Scholarship 2011 Private Religious Discrimination, National Security, and the First Amendment Aziz Huq Follow this and additional works at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Aziz Huq, "Private Religious Discrimination, National Security, and the First Amendment," 5 Harvard Law and Policy Review 347 (2011). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Chicago Unbound. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of Chicago Unbound. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Private Religious Discrimination, National Security, and the First Amendment Aziz Z. Huq* INTRODUCTION On November 2, 2010, voters in the Oklahoma general election entered the voting booth to find on their ballot six "state questions" about proposed legal changes. The fourth, State Question 755, proposed an amendment to the state constitution to "forbid[ ] courts from considering or using Sharia law . Sharia Law is Islamic law. It is based on two principal sources, the Koran and the teaching of Mohammed."' The executive director of a group supporting the amendment, a national organization called Act! For America, explained that American Muslims should receive this different treatment from the courts because their legal system is inherently flawed.2 Elaborating this thought, a correspondent with The Oklahoman newspaper explained his view that the amendment was justified because "Islam's stated intent is to bring all of the U.S. under Sharia [law]."' State Question 755 passed with seventy percent of the vote.4 In one way, State Question 755 is unusual.