judicial determinations; religious sectarian laws, the official text

REFERENCE TITLE: judicial determinations; religious sectarian laws

State of Arizona

Senate

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

SB 1573

Introduced by

Senators
Rogers: Finchem

AN
ACT

amending sections 12-3101 and 12-3102,
Arizona Revised Statutes; amending title 12, chapter 22, Arizona Revised
Statutes, by adding article 2; relating to judicial determinations.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Heading change

A. The chapter heading of
title 12, chapter 22, Arizona Revised Statutes, is changed from "APPLICATION OF FOREIGN LAWS" to "APPLICATION
OF FOREIGN LAWS AND RELIGIOUS SECTARIAN LAWS".

B. The article heading of
title 12, chapter 22, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is changed from "GENERAL PROVISIONS"
to "FOREIGN LAWS".

Sec. 2. Section 12-3101, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE12-3101. Definition of foreign law

In this [chapter] article,
unless the context otherwise requires, "foreign law" means any law,
rule or legal code or system other than the constitution, laws and ratified
treaties of the United States and the territories of the United States, or the constitution and laws of this state.

Sec. 3. Section 12-3102, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE12-3102. Application

A. This [chapter]
article applies only to actual violations of the constitutional rights
of a person or actual conflict with the laws of this state caused by the
application of the foreign law.

B. This [chapter]
article does not apply to a corporation, partnership or other form of
business association.END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Title 12, chapter 22, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended by adding article 2, to read:

ARTICLE 2. RELIGIOUS SECTARIAN
LAWS

START_STATUTE12-3104. Prohibited judicial determinations based on religious sectarian
law; applicability; definition

A. A court shall not use, implement,
refer to or incorporate A tenet of any body of religious sectarian law into any
decision, finding or opinion as controlling or influential authority.

b. Any decision or ratification of a
private agreement that is determined, on the merits, by a judge in this state
who relies on any body of religious sectarian law is void, is appealable error
and is grounds for impeachment and removal from office.

c. This section applies to a federal
court sitting in diversity jurisdiction.

d. This section does not apply to:

1. A statute or any case law
developed in the United States and its territories that is based on
Anglo-American legal tradition and principles on which the United States was
founded.

2. A statute or any case law or legal
principle that was inherited from Great Britain before the effective date of
this article.

3. The recognition of a traditional
marriage between a man and a woman as officiated by the clergy or a secular
official of the matrimonial couple's choice.

e. For
the purposes of this section, "Religious Sectarian Law" means any
statute, tenet or body of law evolving within and binding a specific religious
sect or tribe.  Religious sectarian law includes Sharia Law, Canon Law, Halacha
and Karma but does not include any law of the United States or the individual
states based on Anglo-American legal tradition and principles on which
the United States was founded. END_STATUTE

Sec. 5. Legislative
findings

The legislature finds that:

1. The tenth amendment to
the United States Constitution guarantees and reserves to the states or their
people all powers not specifically granted to the federal government elsewhere
in the constitution as they were publicly understood at the time the amendment
was ratified on December 15, 1791, subject only to modification by duly
ratified subsequent amendments to the United States Constitution.  The guaranty
of those powers is a matter of compact between the state and people of Arizona
and the United States as of the time Arizona was admitted to statehood on
February 14, 1912.

2. As a matter of compact
between the state and people of Arizona and the United States as of the time
Arizona was admitted to statehood on February 14, 1912, the tenth amendment to
the United States Constitution guarantees to the state and people of Arizona
that other than the enumerated powers expressly granted to the United States
under article I, section 8 of the United States Constitution, Congress and the
federal government will not exercise any purported control over or commandeer
the courts of the state of Arizona.

3. At the time the United
States Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788, the sole and sovereign power
to regulate the state courts rested in the state legislature and has always
been a compelling state concern and central to state sovereignty. Accordingly,
the foregoing public meaning and understanding of article I, section 8, the
establishment clause of the first amendment and the tenth amendment of the
United States Constitution are matters of compact between the state and people
of Arizona and the United States as of the time Arizona was admitted to
statehood on February 14, 1912.

4. At the time the United
States Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788, the commerce clause was not
meant or understood to authorize Congress or the federal judiciary to regulate
the state courts in the matter of state substantive law or state judicial
procedure.  The meaning and understanding of article I, section 8, the
establishment clause of the first amendment and the tenth amendment of the
United States Constitution, as they pertain to the validity of religious
sectarian law as being controlling or influential precedent, have never been
modified by any duly ratified amendment to the United States Constitution.
Accordingly, the foregoing public meaning and understanding of article I,
section 8 and the tenth amendment of the United States Constitution are matters
of compact between the state and people of Arizona and the United States as of
the time Arizona was admitted to statehood on February 14, 1912.

5. At the time the United
States Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788, the commerce clause was not
meant or understood to authorize Congress or the federal judiciary to establish
religious sectarian statute or case law as controlling or influential
precedent. The meaning and understanding of article I, section 8,
the establishment clause of the first amendment and the tenth amendment of the
United States Constitution, as they pertain to controlling or influential legal
authority, have never been modified by any duly ratified amendment to the
United States Constitution.  Accordingly, the foregoing public meaning and
understanding of article I, section 8, the establishment clause of the first
amendment and the tenth amendment of the United States Constitution are matters
of compact between the state and people of Arizona and the United States as of
the time Arizona was admitted to statehood on February 14, 1912.

6. The Congress and the
federal government are denied the power to establish a sectarian religion by
recognizing or ratifying judicial decisions based on religious sectarian law.

7. The Congress has no
authority to preempt state regulation of state courts.

8. Under the tenth
amendment of the United States Constitution, the people and state of Arizona
retain their exclusive power to regulate the state courts of Arizona subject
only to the fourteenth amendment's guarantee that the people and state of
Arizona shall exercise such sovereign power in accordance with each citizen's
lawful privileges or immunities, and in compliance with the requirements of due
process and equal protection of the law.

9. The ninth amendment of
the United States Constitution secures and reserves to the people of Arizona as
against the federal government their natural rights to life, liberty and
property as entailed by the traditional Anglo-American conception of ordered
liberty and as secured by state law, including their rights as they were
understood and secured by the law at the time the amendment was ratified on
December 15, 1791, as well as their rights as they were understood and secured
by the law in the state of Arizona at the time the Arizona Constitution was
adopted on December 9, 1910.  The guarantee of those rights is a matter of
compact between the state and people of Arizona and the United States as of the
time Arizona was admitted to statehood on February 14, 1912.

Sec. 6. Construction and severability

A. Any
court that construes this act must adopt a construction of each provision that:

1. Confines
the power of Congress and the federal judiciary to impose religious sectarian
law to the least expansive interpretation permitted under binding precedent.

2. Secures the authority of
the state of Arizona to exclusively regulate its courts under the tenth
amendment of the United States Constitution to the greatest extent permitted
under binding precedent.

3. Protects the
constitutional rights of Arizonans under article I, section 8 of the United
States Constitution, as well as the first, ninth and tenth amendments to the
United States Constitution to regulate the state's judiciary permitted under
binding precedent.

B. If a provision of this
act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the act that can
be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end
the provisions of this act are severable.

Sec. 7. Short title

This act may be cited as the
"Arizona Foreign Decisions Act".