My view is that being a Muslim is not a limitation on being an arbitrator that a court may properly enforce, given the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause.
I don't think there's any constitutional difficulty with a court's deciding whether someone adequately knows Sharia as it is understood in Saudi Arabia, though I imagine a court would have a pretty difficult time resolving such matters; it would make much more sense to leave the appointment of such an arbitrator to a private entity (or to a Saudi government entity). There might be a constitutional difficulty - of the entanglement / religious decisions variety - with a court's deciding whether someone adequately knows Sharia as Islamic law as such, for instance if there's a dispute about whether a person's view on a Sharia question shows ignorance or just shows disagreement about theological matters. Eugene From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Steven Jamar Sent: Monday, January 03, 2011 12:38 PM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: Re: May American court appoint only Muslim arbitrators, pursuant to an arbitration agreement? Eugene, do you contend that knowledge of the Sharia is not a valid limitation or only that being a Muslim is not? On Jan 3, 2011, at 2:32 PM, Douglas Laycock wrote: must know the Shari'a, commercial laws and the customs in force in the Kingdom -- Prof. Steven D. Jamar vox: 202-806-8017 Associate Director, Institute for Intellectual Property and Social Justice http://iipsj.org Howard University School of Law fax: 202-806-8567 http://iipsj.com/SDJ/ "Love the pitcher less and the water more." Sufi Saying
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