Xenophobia Disguised as Policy: Tuberville and Moore Target Muslims With False Claims

WASHINGTON — At a press conference framed as a warning against an alleged constitutional threat, Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Rep. Barry Moore accused “Sharia law” of undermining American legal principles. What they did not present was evidence that such a system operates—or could operate—anywhere within the United States.

The event, hosted by the so-called Sharia-Free America Caucus, relied on inflammatory rhetoric while omitting a critical fact: Sharia law has no legal standing in the U.S., cannot override the Constitution, and has never been applied by American courts as binding law.

A Threat That Does Not Exist

Under the U.S. Constitution, the Supremacy Clause establishes federal and state law as the only enforceable legal systems. Religious doctrines—Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or otherwise—are constitutionally barred from replacing or superseding civil law.

No U.S. court recognizes Sharia as governing criminal law, civil law, constitutional rights, or public policy. Claims that it threatens due process or free speech misstate both American law and Islamic practice.

Legal scholars note that the only context in which religious principles may appear in U.S. courts is private arbitration, a mechanism equally available to Christians using Biblical mediation or Jews using rabbinical courts—all of which remain fully subject to U.S. law and judicial review.

Misrepresenting What Sharia Is

By portraying Sharia as a monolithic “code of violence and domination,” Tuberville and Moore conflated extremist interpretations abroad with a broad ethical and religious framework that governs personal conduct for Muslims—such as prayer, fasting, charity, and family obligations.

Sharia is not a single statute book. It has no enforcement mechanism in the United States and no pathway to one. Suggesting otherwise is not a warning—it is a distortion.

Due Process Already Applies—and Always Has

Moore’s claim that Sharia is “against due process and freedom of speech” ignores a basic legal reality: every person in the United States—Muslim or not—is protected by the same constitutional guarantees.

If a religious practice violates civil law, it is unlawful. Period. No religious belief can negate criminal statutes, equal protection, or constitutional rights. That legal firewall is already absolute.

A Pattern of Political Theater

The press conference offered no court cases, no legislation, no credible legal analysis, and no documented instances of Sharia displacing U.S. law. Instead, it relied on fear-based generalizations that civil rights groups have repeatedly warned fuel religious discrimination while solving no actual legal problem.

By manufacturing a legal threat where none exists, the lawmakers shifted attention away from genuine constitutional issues and toward a cultural scare tactic aimed at a religious minority.

The Bottom Line

There is no Sharia takeover.
There is no parallel legal system.
There is no constitutional conflict.

What exists instead is a political narrative unsupported by law, evidence, or reality—one that misleads the public and undermines the lawmakers’ duty to legislate based on facts rather than fear.

In the United States, the Constitution already reigns supreme. It does not need protection from imaginary adversaries.