COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The South Carolina House held one of its longer debates of the year Thursday on a bill that some opponents said was pointless: a ban to prevent courts from enforcing foreign laws in the state.
Rep. Chip Limehouse proposed an amendment that replaced “Sharia law” with “foreign law” as the debate began. While the amendment passed, there was little doubt the point of the debate was to make sure laws based on the tenants of Islam never get a foothold in the state.
“You had people fighting harder than I have ever seen them fighting for anything for a fairly innocuous bill that says you can’t use foreign law in a state court. What’s so harmful with that?” said Limehouse, R-Charleston. “It protects the constitutional rights of our citizens. That’s all it does.”
Opponents, including some fellow Republicans, said the bill was useless and a waste of time. The state and U.S. constitutions would never allow any judge to consider foreign law, said Rep. Gary Clary, a former judge.
“This is superfluous. We have all the law we need right now,” said Clary, R-Central.
But the debate went on for nearly three hours, much longer than issues like body cameras for police officers or whether to eliminate the need for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The discussion over whether to put more money into state roads was one of the few debates to go longer.
“Why are we talking about this crazy stuff that doesn’t matter to my pocketbook?” asked Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg.
Opponents of the bill called for a number of procedural votes, and at one point House members were voting on a motion to table the motion to reconsider the vote to continue. They were all defeated, but as morning turned to afternoon and the lunch hour passed by, Limehouse noticed the margin of defeat was getting thinner. After winning a last vote by just two votes, he said he made the tactical decision to move debate on the bill to Tuesday, when he thinks he can get it passed.
Supporters of the bill said little on the floor, allowing opponents to speak for long stretches unopposed.
Rep. Joe Neal suggested the bill was driven by a fear of Muslims by people without open minds or with fear of the unknown. He suggested the next bill taken up should ban the boogeyman.
“Sharia law can never occur in South Carolina because the laws are made right here where we are,” said Neal, D-Hopkins.
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