Sharia Law and the U.S. Constitution

[Update I:  I have streamlined the following post to be easily readable to the average layman, but informative enough for a lawyer or law professor to learn a bit more on the similarities and differences between Sharia and U.S. Law]

Is Sharia compatible with the U.S. Constitution?

The simple answer is of course “no”.

But lets take a look at some aspects of Sharia Law and where it may or may not conflict with the U.S. Constitution.  (For disclosure I am not a lawyer nor a legal expert in Sharia or U.S. Law.)

First, what is Sharia?

Wikipedia states Sharia refers to the sacred law of Islam.  All Muslims believe Sharia is God’s law, but they have differences between themselves as to exactly what it entails.  Which will be difficult to discern what to apply when, but we’ll labor along for the sake of discussion.

In Western countries, where Muslim immigration is more recent, Muslim minorities have introduced Sharia family law, for use in their own disputes. Attempts to impose Sharia have been accompanied by controversy, violence, and even warfare (Second Sudanese Civil War).

The recent incidents at the Arab International Festival have reinforced the poor image of Sharia inside the United States and its incompatibility with American culture and law.

The following is a truncated version with a couple of modifications (eliminating repetitious ibids and links) of multiple Wikipedia entries [with my comments]:

Legal and Court Proceedings:

Wikipedia states that Sharia judicial proceedings have significant differences with other legal traditions, including those in both common law and civil law.

1. Sharia courts do not generally employ lawyers; plaintiffs and defendants represent themselves.

Cardinal McCarrick and Sister Carol Keehan

The ever exceptional Catholic blogger Diogenes couldn’t help himself as he commented on “Sister” Carol Keehan’s reading at a Mass for retired Archbishop Theodore Cardinal McCarrick.

“Sister” Carol Keehan, who is the president of the Catholic Health Association, endorsed ObamaCare.  Thus declaring themselves in contradiction with Francis Cardinal George and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who opposed ObamaCare.

Here is Diogenes’s brilliant column:

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who has devoted so much of his episcopal career to the effort to make everyone comfortable, is approaching his 80th birthday, and already the celebrations have begun.

(No, I don’t mean the celebrations of the fact that as of July 7, “Uncle Teddy” will be ineligible to vote in a papal conclave—although that’s definitely reason enough to chill the champagne.)

Police Raid Tombs of Dead Bishops in Belgium

Video Update at the bottom of this post.

Police raided and disturbed the tombs and graves of Belgium’s bishops searching for sex abuse cover ups.  While the police raided the tombs, they also shut down a bishops conference and held those bishops hostage for several hours.  Cutting off phone lines and all other forms of communication during their nationwide harassment of bishops in Belgium.

What makes this situation worse is that they also confiscated all of the Belgium’s bishops commission on these sex abuse cover up where victims gave confidential statements expecting discretion.

This is nothing more than anti-Catholic activities sanctioned at the state level.

I am Shocked, Shocked!

Hattip to Ed Morrissy at Hot Air.  The Washington Post hired David Weigel, who has previously come to the attention of this blog here,  to report to their readership on that strange group called American conservatives.  This small and obscure group, only 42% of the adult population of the US according to the latest Gallup poll released today and twice the number of self-identified liberals, was the focus of the reporting of David Weigel.  To my non-surprise, Weigel is now revealed in his own words to be a bitter Democrat partisan and uber-liberal:

Weigel was hired this spring by the Post to cover the conservative movement. Almost from the beginning there have been complaints that his coverage betrays a personal animus toward conservatives.  Emails obtained by the Daily Caller suggest those complaints have merit.

I’m Glad Someone Likes the Census

From the only reliable source of news on the net, the Onion.  Lonely old folks aren’t really that funny.  I’ve occasionally had elderly clients who have begun seeing me more than is necessary for what I can do for them as an attorney, and I’ve suspected loneliness.  Imagine the amount of loneliness necessary for going to see an attorney to be regarded as a pleasant activity!  In those cases I’ve tried to get them involved with local groups.  There are quite a few in my town always looking for volunteers. 

It is hard on older people when their spouse has died and their kids live hundreds or thousands of miles away.  I tend to be fairly busy but whenever one of my older friends and clients drop by simply to talk I do make an effort to find time for them, realizing how easily I could be in their shoes decades from now.