On Muslims' agenda: Fight anti-Sharia proposals in US states

[...] supporters of state proposals to prevent Islamic code from being used in American courts argue they aren't overtly anti-Muslim and are needed to safeguard constitutional rights for average Americans.

Muslim leaders say the bills are among a range of proposals and decisions at all levels of government that they're gearing up to fight this year, from President Donald Trump's travel ban to local planning and zoning rulings against mosque projects.

A Muslim woman accused her husband of sexual abuse and sought a restraining order in 2009, but the judge denied the request after the husband argued, in part, that a wife must comply with her husband's sexual demands in Islamic custom.

[...] Will Smiley, an editor at the Harvard Law School's SHARIAsource, an online collection of academic writings on Islamic law, is skeptical the bills proposed by lawmakers would have made a difference in the initial ruling.

Many of the other cases cited in the center's report don't appear to show evidence that U.S. courts based decisions on Sharia or other foreign codes, said Jay Wexler, a professor at Boston University's School of Law who specializes in separation of church and state issues.

If parts of Jewish, Christian or other laws ran counter to fundamental constitutional rights, they too would not be applicable in U.S. courts, said Montana state Sen. Keith Regier, a Republican.