Constructing the Other: U.S. Muslims, anti-Sharia Law, and the Constitutional Consequences of Volatile Intercultural Rhetoric 22 Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal 2012-2013

22 S. Cal. Interdisc. L.J. 65 (2012-2013)
Constructing the Other: U.S. Muslims, anti-Sharia Law, and the Constitutional Consequences of Volatile Intercultural Rhetoric

handle is hein.journals/scid22 and id is 75 raw text is: CONSTRUCTING THE OTHER: U.S.
MUSLIMS, ANTI-SHARIA LAW, AND THE
CONSTITUTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF
VOLATILE INTERCULTURAL RHETORIC
CARLO A. PEDRIOLI*
Ignorance is the parent offear, and being completely nonplussed and
confounded about the stranger, I confess I was now as much afraid of him
as if it was the devil himself who had thus broken into my room at the dead
of night. 1
I. INTRODUCTION
Recently, legislators have proposed, discussed, and passed various
laws that aimed to limit the use of foreign law, international law, and
Sharia in state court systems. During the latest set of legislative sessions,
legislators in twenty-three states put forth forty-one bills of this sort.2 Most
of the bills died at the ends of the legislative sessions, but not all did.3 If
* Assistant Professor of Law, Barry University; B.A. 1999 (summa cum laude),
Communication and English, California State University, Stanislaus; J.D. 2002, University of the
Pacific; M.A. 2003, Communication, University of Utah; Ph.D. 2005, Communication, University of
Utah. The author is a member of the State Bar of California.
The author presented a previous version of this Article at the Florida Legal Scholarship
Forum at Stetson University on November 12, 2011. The author appreciates the discussion that fellow
participants of the Forum offered following his presentation; Theresa J. Pulley Radwan and Judith A.M.
Scully of Stetson University facilitated the author's discussion group. For helpful feedback on earlier
versions of this Article prior to the Stetson Forum, the author recognizes Roberto Avant-Mier of the
University of Texas at El Paso and Terri Day of Barry University. For thorough and prompt research
assistance, the author thanks Sarah Flores and Jerry Palmer of Barry University's law class of 2012, and
for consistently reliable interlibrary loan support, the author thanks law librarians Patricia Brown and
Louis Rosen of Barry University.
1. HERMAN MELVILLE, MOBY DICK 34 (Hershel Parker & Harrison Hayford eds., W.W.
Norton & Co. 2d ed. 2002) (1851).
2. Bill Raftery, Bans on Court Use of Sharia/International Law: Showdown Vote in Michigan
Set for After November Election, GAVEL TO GAVEL (October 4, 2012),
http://gaveltogavel.us/site/2012/10/04/bans-on-court-use-of-shariaintemational-law-showdown-vote-in-
michigan-set-for-after-november-election.
3. Id.

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