Sponsors (4)
The bill aims to protect customers from being denied service based on religious legal codes and to clarify enforcement of public-accommodation laws, but by explicitly singling out 'Sharia' it risks targeting Muslim Americans, chilling private religious expression, and increasing legal costs and uncertainty for businesses.
Customers who are of a different faith or nonreligious would be less likely to be denied service on the basis of a business applying a religious legal code and would have clearer legal recourse; courts and agencies would have a more predictable rule to enforce nondiscrimination in public accommodations.
Muslim-owned businesses and Muslim customers would be disproportionately targeted because the provision singles out 'Sharia law,' increasing risks of religious profiling, investigations, and litigation against Muslim Americans.
Business owners who provide voluntary religious accommodations or express private religious beliefs in their places of business may self-censor or stop accommodations out of fear of liability if practices are perceived as 'Sharia,' reducing private religious freedom.
Covered establishments—particularly small businesses—could face increased lawsuits, compliance costs, and uncertainty about what practices constitute 'implementing Sharia,' raising legal defense expenses and potential taxpayer-funded enforcement costs.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced March 19, 2026 by Barry Moore · Last progress March 19, 2026
Treats an establishment’s implementation of Sharia law in providing goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations as religious discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In practice, it amends the public-accommodations anti-discrimination rule to make applying Sharia law by covered establishments explicitly actionable as religious discrimination.