Sharia Law Bills: Federal Acts, Texas and Florida Measures

Bills to restrict sharia law in the United States fall into three buckets: a long-running state campaign that has produced more than 230 introduced measures since 2010, four federal bills pending in the 119th Congress, and two recently enacted state laws in Texas (2025) and Florida (2026). One early version, Oklahoma’s 2010 constitutional amendment, was struck down by a federal appeals court, and that ruling continues to shape how newer bills are written.

Where the Bills Come From

Almost all state-level anti-sharia legislation traces to a single model bill called “American Laws for American Courts,” or ALAC, drafted around 2009 by New York attorney David Yerushalmi, general counsel for the Center for Security Policy.¹ The template voids judicial rulings that rely on foreign laws violating rights guaranteed by the U.S. or state constitutions. It was deliberately written not to mention Islam, instead referring to “foreign law” and “foreign legal codes,” a drafting choice meant to avoid the constitutional problems that come with singling out one religion.²

Distribution has run through a partnership between the Center for Security Policy, which recruits sympathetic state legislators, and ACT for America, which mobilizes supporters at hearings and in lawmakers’ offices. ACT has claimed credit for the passage of 42 bills in more than 20 states within a seven-year span.¹

How Many States Have Introduced or Passed Them

According to a database maintained by the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, 216 bills were introduced in 43 state legislatures between 2010 and 2018, and the total exceeded 230 by the mid-2020s.³⁴ Texas led with 21 bills and Mississippi followed with 20. Many were introduced in states with very small Muslim populations.

Early enactments included Kansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arizona, and South Dakota, the last of which banned enforcement of “any religious code.”⁵ Arkansas, Florida, and North Carolina later passed both anti-foreign-law statutes and companion “Andy’s Law” measures that let families of terrorism victims sue those who provided material support to attackers.¹ The Southern Poverty Law Center has estimated that some version of ALAC was signed into law in at least 12 states as of the late 2010s.

The Court Ruling That Shaped Everything After

The only anti-sharia measure to receive a definitive federal appellate ruling was Oklahoma’s State Question 755, the “Save Our State Amendment,” approved by more than 70 percent of Oklahoma voters in November 2010. It expressly forbade state courts from considering “Sharia Law” or international law.⁶

Muneer Awad, executive director of CAIR’s Oklahoma chapter, sued before the results could be certified. In Awad v. Ziriax, decided January 10, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit unanimously affirmed a preliminary injunction blocking the amendment.⁷ The court found that Awad had standing because the amendment imposed a “constitutional directive of exclusion and disfavored treatment of a particular religious legal tradition.”⁸ Oklahoma could not identify a single case in which one of its courts had improperly applied sharia.⁶

The ruling set a practical boundary: measures that name sharia explicitly face serious Establishment Clause scrutiny. Most legislation drafted since has either used religion-neutral “foreign law” language or framed its restrictions in terms of fair housing, civil rights, or public accommodations.

Federal Bills in the 119th Congress

At least four federal anti-sharia bills have been introduced in the 2025–2026 Congress. All remain in committee with no reported hearings, markups, or floor votes as of mid-2026.

The No Sharia Act

Representative Randy Fine of Florida introduced the No Sharia Act in the House in September 2025, co-led by Representative Keith Self of Texas and cosponsored by Representative Chip Roy of Texas, among others. By October 15, 2025, the bill had 14 additional House cosponsors.⁹ Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama introduced a Senate companion on October 15, 2025.¹⁰ Senators John Cornyn and Tuberville introduced a separate version under the same name a day later.¹¹

The bills focus on judicial procedure. They prohibit courts from enforcing judgments, decrees, or contracts that rely on foreign laws violating the U.S. Constitution; invalidate contract provisions that depend on such foreign laws; and bar the application of foreign laws regarding marriage, divorce, custody, adoption, or inheritance if inconsistent with American law.¹¹ The language closely mirrors the ALAC state template.

The Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act

Representative Roy introduced H.R. 5722 on October 8, 2025, with cosponsors including Fine, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, and Self.¹² This bill takes an immigration route, amending the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit the entry of foreign nationals who adhere to sharia.

The Senate companion, S. 3009, introduced by Tuberville on October 15, 2025, would deny immigration benefits, visas, or admission to any foreign national who “advocates for the imposition of Sharia law in a manner that would violate the rights of another person under the Constitution.” Individuals who make false statements about such advocacy would be deemed inadmissible or deportable, and any determination by the Secretary of State, Secretary of Homeland Security, or Attorney General would be final and not subject to judicial review.¹³

The Defeat Sharia Law in America Act

Cornyn and Tuberville introduced S. 3887 on February 12, 2026.¹⁴ This one amends Section 201(a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the public accommodations provision. Any covered establishment that provides goods, services, or accommodations “by implementing Sharia law” would be treated as discriminating on the ground of religion in violation of the Civil Rights Act.¹⁵ It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Texas: HB 4211

Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 4211 on September 12, 2025, after a dispute over a planned 402-acre residential development in Collin County known as EPIC City. The project, proposed by Community Capital Partners (a for-profit entity formed in 2024 by members of the East Plano Islamic Center), would have included over 1,000 homes, a mosque, a K-12 faith-based school, retail shops, senior housing, and a community college.¹⁶ Critics alleged the community would be restricted to Muslims and subject residents to sharia. Abbott called the developers “bad actors.”¹⁷ The developers, through attorney Dan Cogdell, denied the allegations and said the project was “100% moving forward.” A Department of Justice probe opened in May 2025 was closed the following month.¹⁸

HB 4211, authored by Representative Candy Noble and Senator Bryan Hughes, does not mention sharia in its operative text. It amends Texas housing and business law to prevent managing entities from violating the Texas Fair Housing Act by restricting property transfers based on religion. It closes a loophole that previously allowed religious organizations to limit occupancy to co-religionists, specifying that the exemption does not apply to single-family homes and small multifamily properties on subdivided lots in parcels of 25 acres or greater. The law also requires agreements to disclose that a purchaser is buying an interest in a managing entity rather than in the property itself, and it prohibits agreements that mandate dispute resolution by any tribunal other than a state or federal court. Violations are classified as deceptive trade practices.¹⁶

Florida: HB 1471

Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1471 on April 6, 2026. The law passed the Florida House 80–25 and the Senate 24–9, and its effective date is July 1, 2026.¹⁹²⁰

The sharia-related provision prohibits Florida courts from enforcing “religious or foreign law,” and the statute explicitly cites sharia as an example. The same law also authorizes the state to designate foreign and domestic terrorist organizations and attaches funding and enrollment consequences for schools and students connected to them.¹⁹

CAIR-Florida and the Progressive Jewish Coalition condemned the law as “anti-free speech,” “anti-due process,” and “anti-First Amendment.” CAIR-Florida Executive Director Hiba Rahim said the organization was “waiting to see how the law plays out before taking legal action.”²¹ As of mid-2026 no lawsuit has been filed. Because the statute names sharia directly, it is the current law most exposed to the kind of Establishment Clause challenge that succeeded in Awad.

What Opponents Argue

The ACLU has been the most consistent institutional opponent, calling the bills “a legislative solution to a non-existent problem” because the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause already bars government enforcement of religious doctrine, and courts treat Islamic legal claims the same way they treat similar claims from members of other faiths.²²

Opponents also warn of practical fallout from broad foreign-law bans. The ACLU of Idaho, challenging HB 419 in 2018, argued such laws could invalidate marriages conducted abroad, prevent recognition of international adoption decrees, and create uncertainty for international business, because the typical standard — a foreign system that provides rights equivalent to those in the U.S. Constitution — is nearly impossible for any country’s law to meet in every respect.²³ ACLU attorney Daniel Mach has described the broader campaign as an attempt to ride “the recent wave of anti-Muslim bias in this country, pushing laws that are rooted in the baseless idea that U.S. Muslims wish to impose Islamic law on American courts.”²²

1
Center for Public Integrity. Many State Bills, One Source: Behind the Push to Ban Sharia Law
2
The Forward. Lawyer Who Promotes Anti-Sharia Laws Publishes New Study
3
Othering & Belonging Institute, UC Berkeley. New Database Exposes Anti-Muslim Legislation Across US
4
Othering & Belonging Institute, UC Berkeley. Islamophobia Legislative Database
5
Center for American Progress. Foreign Law Bans
6
ACLU. Court Upholds Ruling Blocking Oklahoma Sharia and International Law Ban
7
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Awad v. Ziriax, No. 10-6273 Opinion
8
Justia. Awad v. Ziriax, No. 10-6273
9
Office of Rep. Randy Fine. Fine Announces Senate Companion to the No Sharia Act
10
Office of Sen. Tommy Tuberville. Tuberville Introduces Legislation to Ban Sharia Law in the United States
11
Office of Sen. John Cornyn. Cornyn, Tuberville Introduce No Sharia Act
12
GovInfo. H.R. 5722 – Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act
13
Congress.gov. S.3009 – Preserving a Sharia-Free America Act
14
Congress.gov. S.3887 – Defeat Sharia Law in America Act
15
Congress.gov. S.3887 – Defeat Sharia Law in America Act Text
16
NBC DFW. Abbott Signs Bill Aimed at Blocking EPIC City Project in Collin County
17
Office of the Governor of Texas. Governor Abbott Signs Law Banning Sharia Compounds in Texas
18
KERA News. Texas Property Law: EPIC City and Abbott
19
WUFT. DeSantis Signs Bill Allowing State Designation of Domestic Terrorists, Restrictions on Sharia Law
20
Office of Governor Ron DeSantis. Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Legislation to Combat Terrorist Groups and Ban Sharia Law
21
WUSF. CAIR-Florida Condemns Law Giving the State Power to Designate Terrorist Organizations
22
ACLU. ACLU Lens: Truth Behind the Anti-Sharia Movement
23
ACLU of Idaho. Oppose HB 419 Anti-Sharia Law Bill