American Law for American Courts
Across the country, states are starting to draw a clearer line: American courts should apply American law.
This is the basic expectation most Americans already have. If a case is being heard in a state courtroom, the governing standard should be the United States Constitution, state law, and the rights those laws protect, not foreign legal codes, outside tribunals, or systems that conflict with the liberties Americans are guaranteed.
That is why momentum is building.
🚨 BREAKING: Gov. Ron DeSantis has just signed a law BANNING Sharia Law from being enforced anywhere in the state of Florida
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) April 6, 2026
Sharia Law and Islamism are INCOMPATIBLE with America.
This should be a FEDERAL law. pic.twitter.com/BLm21jC0OB
Missouri is moving in the same direction.
SB 977 establishes the “No Foreign Laws Act” and prohibits the application or enforceability of foreign law when it would deny the liberties, rights, and privileges guaranteed by the United States Constitution or the Missouri Constitution.
SB 977 was passed out of the Missouri Senate last week and heads to the House.
This Is About the Courtroom, Not the Prayer Room
Opponents of foreign law bans will try to blur the issue. They want voters and representatives to think that legislation like this attempts to regulate what to believe, how to worship, or how to live out their faith.
It is not.
SB 977 addresses what happens when a dispute lands in an American courtroom.
When a case comes before a Missouri court, Judges will not be allowed to defer to a foreign legal system that conflicts with basic rights.
States Learned an Important Lesson
Oklahoma was among the first states to pass a ban on foreign law.
In Awad v. Ziriax, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit blocked an Oklahoma measure that singled out Sharia law specifically.
Unlike the law in that case, Missouri’s SB 977 bans the application of any foreign law that conflicts with the United States or the Missouri Constitution.
This Is Not a Made-Up Issue
American courts sometimes face questions involving foreign judgments, religious arbitration, or contracts shaped by religious legal traditions.
American courts do not enforce religious law as such, but they can end up enforcing agreements or judgments through ordinary American legal doctrines if the court treats them as contracts or choice-of-law questions.
American courts have sometimes refused to recognize foreign judgments because they conflicted with American public policy, including a Saudi custody decree.
Missourians and their courts deserve clear rules.
SB 977 provides them.
Missouri Should Not Sit This One Out
Missouri has a chance to do something simple and important: say plainly that Missouri courts will not enforce foreign legal rules that undermine constitutional rights.
Now more than ever, we need to make a statement about sovereignty, legal clarity, and equal justice.
That is the real momentum behind foreign law bans. State lawmakers are recognizing that the courtroom is not the place for legal confusion, divided standards, or imported systems that clash with the rights Americans are promised from birth.
And voters are recognizing it too.
The Bottom Line
American courts should apply American law.
If constitutional rights mean something, they should mean the same thing for every person who walks into an American courtroom.
It’s time for Missouri to take action to protect the rights of its citizens and provide clear rules for its judiciary.
Andy Bakker
Executive Director
Liberty Alliance USA