While South Carolina Proposes Ban On Sharia Law, Former State AG Says He’s Never ‘Encountered’ It

ThinkProgress filed this report from the first Republican presidential debate in Greenville, SC

Politicians in South Carolina, like many states, have decided to propose a ban on Sharia law. Defending his legislation, bill sponsor State Sen. Mike Fair (R-SC) has claimed that there “are some localities around the country that have imposed Sharia law in lieu of local laws.” University of South Carolina law professor Howard Stravitz, however, has argued that not only is Sharia law non-existent in state courts, but Fair’s bill is both ill-conceived and unconstitutional.

While traveling in South Carolina for the Fox News-sponsored Republican presidential debate last week, we caught up with former South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, a Republican fighting to reject health reform as unconstitutional, to ask him about the issue. As top prosecutor for the state, McMaster seemed confused by the Sharia ban, and explained to us that he has never “encountered” it being used in “American courts”:

FANG: Some critics have said there’s no actual threat of sharia law being imposed on Americans. The reason folks are proposing this ban on Sharia is just politics to demonize Muslims.

MCMASTER: I don’t know the details on it, but I know in American courts its American laws. In Chinese courts, its Chinese law. [...]

FANG: In your time as Attorney General, have you encountered Sharia law being imposed in any way here in South Carolina?

MCMASTER: I haven’t encountered anything except American law. [...] By American, the decisions of the Supreme Court, laws passed, statutes passed by Congress or by the state of South Carolina, the constitution of the state of South Carolina.

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Many leading Republicans have staked out far right positions by demagoguing Muslims and claiming that the community is trying to impose Sharia on non-Muslim Americans. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) called Sharia an “existential threat to America,” and former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain told ThinkProgress’ Scott Keyes that he “will not” appoint a Muslim in his administration because of similar fears.

Bills like the one offered in South Carolina are popping up in states around the country. “The proliferation of fearmongering anti-Sharia laws over the past year demonstrates a rise in legislative action that threatens to entrench feelings of hostility and ill will towards Muslim Americans,” notes ThinkProgress’ Zaid Jilani.