American Bar Association Executive Council Vows to Fight US States New Anti-Sharia Law Measures

By Dan Joseph

(CNSNews.com) – The executive council of the American Bar Association (ABA) is organizing an effort to actively oppose states that ban Sharia law.

Included in the text of the ABA’s “International Policies 2010” is a section which organizes a “task force” to review anti-Sharia legislation that has been introduced in 14 states – Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

The report reads:

“The goal of the task force is to have a Report and Recommendation against such legislation as well as an informal set of “talking points” that local opponents of these initiatives could use to make their case in each of these states.”

However, in a statement released on Wednesday, the ABA attempted to distance itself from the executive council’s statement.

“The American Bar Association has taken no action in support of, or in opposition to, judges considering Islamic law or Sharia,” read the statement released by ABA News Director Martha J. Heil.

“These individuals are examining whether the proposed changes to the law impact important constitutional questions. They are also considering implications for international commerce. The actions of a few interested members within one section are not and cannot be interpreted to be those of the entire American Bar Association. Claims to the contrary are erroneous,” Heil said.

In an interview with CNSNews.com, blogger and anti-Sharia activist Pamela Geller who broke this story on her blog “Atlas Shrugs,” believes that the statement from the ABA fails to address the executive board’s actions.

“That’s obfuscation, said Gellar. “If it was just a couple of lawyers that were doing this they wouldn’t be under the umbrella of any of these task forces, these groups under the auspices of the ABA. It’s not just a couple of lawyers. There are groups of lawyers fighting it.”

Gellar also sees a double standard within the ABA when it comes to this matter.

There’s no other group in the ABA that is studying or creating talking points to groups that are opposing this kind of legislation at the moment. That’s a glaring omission I think.

The ABA executive council’s actions come after voters approved a law that barred judges from considering Sharia law when deciding court cases in the state of Oklahoma last November. The law was struck down by a federal judge shortly after passage.

The ABA is a voluntary bar association of lawyers that has over 400,000 members nationwide.