'Unveiling' Kansas's Ban on Application of Foreign Law

In January 2012, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Awad v. Ziriax upheld an injunction granted by the Western District of Oklahoma barring the implementation of Oklahoma’s Save Our State Amendment, which “forb[ade] courts from considering or using Sharia” or international law. Despite the decision in Awad, the Kansas Legislature passed a similar bill a few months later intended to ban Sharī’a law from “creeping” into the Kansas judiciary. On May 21, 2012, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed into law Senate Bill 79, codified at article 51 of the Kansas Statutes, concerning the protection of “rights and privileges granted under the United States or Kansas constitutions.” Article 51 plainly prohibits “any law, legal code or system of a jurisdiction outside of any state or territory of the United States.” And, under the law, “[a]ny court, arbitration, tribunal or administrative agency ruling or decision” basing a ruling “in whole or in part on any foreign law, legal code or system” is void and unenforceable as against the public policy of Kansas. Article 51 bans the application of international law in state court proceedings. The law’s language veils the true intent of article 51. Although not explicit in article 51, the legislative intent behind the law was to ban Sharī’a law, otherwise known as Islamic law.