South Carolina's state House has passed a bill that would prohibit courts from citing Sharia law. But critics of the bill say it violates the establishment clause of the Constitution.

The bill, proposed by Republican State Rep. Chip Limehouse, passed the state House by a vote of 68-42 on Jan. 28. It seeks "to prevent a court or other enforcement authority from enforcing foreign law including, but not limited to, sharia law in this state from a forum outside of the United States of its territories, ” according to the bill's language cited by Courthouse News Service.

However, lawmakers said there hasn't been a single citation of Sharia law in their state's courts. And because the bill singles out a specific religion, there's concern that the law is unconstitutional.

"This legislation is very similar to the Oklahoma anti-Sharia constitutional amendment that was struck down as a violation of the Establishment Clause in a federal court challenge brought by CAIR," William Burgess, senior staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), wrote in a letter to state Senate and the state Attorney General on Jan. 29.

In 2010, Oklahoma voters approved an amendment to their state's constitution that prohibited Sharia law from being considered in state courts, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, in 2013, a federal judge struck down the amendment on grounds that it was unconstitutional.

In South Carolina, Limehouse said that his law is good and is only meant to encourage Muslims to "take up the American culture," Al Jazeera notes.

"This includes the law of the land ... by which we run our courts and businesses and everything else," Limehouse added.

CAIR, however, provides a different viewpoint in their letter.

"As with the Oklahoma amendment, H. 3521 would send the unconstitutional message that Islam is an officially disfavored religion in the State of South Carolina," Burgess wrote, according to Courthouse News Service. "This would be in clear violation of the First Amendment's command that government remain neutral in matters of religion."

In addition, the American Bar Association opposed legislation singling out a single religion because "initiatives that target an entire religion or stigmatize an entire religious community, such as those explicitly aimed at 'Sharia law,' are inconsistent with some of the core principles and ideals of American jurisprudence."

The bill is scheduled for another vote in the state House during the week of Feb. 1. If it passes again, it will then be sent to the state Senate for consideration.

South Carolina House Votes To Make Sharia Law Illegal