Sharia-Free New Mexico

A. Governing authority.

The Constitution of the United States and valid federal law shall remain the supreme law of the land. This constitution and valid laws enacted pursuant to it shall govern the exercise of state and local governmental authority, subject to federal supremacy. No religious legal code or foreign legal system shall constitute an independent source of sovereign governmental authority within New Mexico.

No court, agency, political subdivision or public officer shall delegate legislative, criminal adjudicatory or coercive governmental authority to a religious tribunal or give a religious rule binding civil force solely because it is asserted to possess divine or ecclesiastical authority.

B. Definitions and uniform application.

For purposes of this section, “religious legal rule” means a rule asserted to derive legal authority from religious doctrine or an ecclesiastical body. “Foreign law” means the law of a jurisdiction outside the United States, excluding tribal law and the law of federally recognized Indian tribes.

This section applies uniformly without favoring or disfavoring a religion. It includes religious legal rules described as Sharia to the same extent and under the same standards as rules derived from any other religion. A person’s religious identity, belief or association shall not establish a violation.

C. Protection of civil and constitutional rights.

No court, agency or public officer shall apply or enforce a religious legal rule, foreign law, judgment, arbitral award, contractual provision or choice-of-law provision to the extent its application would violate a right protected by the Constitution of the United States, this constitution or a nonwaivable provision of applicable law.

Protected rights include equal protection; due process; freedom of religion, including the freedom to change or reject a religion; freedom of speech; and protections against unlawful deprivation of life, liberty or property. State recognition or enforcement shall not impose unequal civil status on the basis of sex, religious belief or nonbelief, or otherwise authorize discrimination prohibited by applicable law.

D. Coercion and criminal penalties.

No religious or foreign legal rule shall authorize conduct that constitutes a crime under applicable law, immunize such conduct from prosecution, or justify violence, threats, involuntary confinement, forced marriage or unlawful deprivation of property.

No religious tribunal shall exercise state criminal jurisdiction or impose criminal punishment enforceable by the state. No asserted religious authority shall excuse cruel or unusual punishment or a punishment otherwise forbidden by the Constitution of the United States or this constitution.

E. Civil agreements, arbitration and access to courts.

A religiously informed civil agreement or arbitration may be recognized only under the same neutral principles of law applicable to comparable secular agreements and arbitration, subject to Subsection C and controlling federal law. No party shall be denied access to civil courts or required to submit to religious adjudication merely because of religious identity or affiliation.

Any waiver of a waivable procedural right must be valid under applicable law. Fraud, duress, coercion, incapacity and other generally applicable grounds for invalidating consent shall remain available. Courts shall retain the review and enforcement authority provided by applicable law and shall not decide questions of theological truth.

F. Religious liberty and reserved authority.

Nothing in this section prohibits voluntary worship, religious belief, teaching, association, dietary observance or other constitutionally protected religious exercise. Nothing shall authorize discrimination against a person or religious organization, impair constitutionally protected internal religious governance, or deny a civil remedy because an otherwise lawful agreement has religious content.

This section shall not impair federal supremacy, obligations imposed by controlling federal law or treaties, recognition of judgments required by the Constitution of the United States, tribal sovereignty, or governmental authority reserved to federally recognized Indian tribes.

G. Enforcement and implementation.

A person directly affected by governmental action alleged to violate this section may seek declaratory or prospective injunctive relief in a court of competent jurisdiction, subject to applicable jurisdictional requirements. This section does not independently create a right to monetary damages.

The legislature may enact laws implementing this section, consistent with protected rights and controlling federal law. This section is self-executing. If a provision or application is held invalid, the remaining provisions and valid applications shall remain in effect to the extent they can operate independently.

H. Effective date.

This section shall take effect upon ratification by the voters of New Mexico and shall apply to governmental action occurring thereafter, subject to controlling constitutional limitations.”