It's not just the divisive issue of abortion that has generated legislation divorced from reality. According to Bill Raftery, who smartly tracks such trends at the Gavel to Gavel site of the National Center for State Courts, 22 states have legislation pending now that would ban the use of Sharia law or international law in their state courts. Never mind that there is no discernible proof that state or federal judges are suddenly swooning over sharia law, or that there is some vast judicial conspiracy afoot to supersede constitutional doctrine with foreign principles. It's enough that the proposed legislation merely suggests that this is so.

Most of these newer anti-sharia measures do not explicitly use the word "sharia law" -- a lesson lawmakers seem to have learned from the thumping Oklahoma's voter-approved Sharia law ban has received so far from the federal courts that have reviewed it. Such stylistic alterations likely won't matter. The Bill of Rights and the Constitution -- which were themselves based upon English common law and other international norms -- forbids the government from discriminating in this fashion. Did I say discrimination? In Iowa, a measure now before the state senate would imprison any judge (on a Class 4 Felony) who employs international law in a decision.

Indeed, the past 16 months have seen persistent and pernicious efforts by state lawmakers to undermine the independence of the judiciary. I have written about this topic before as it relates to New Hampshire. But it's rampant all over. In Arizona, lawmakers angry about a state court's redistricting decision are trying to punish the state's judicial system by dramatically reducing the number of appellate judges from 22 to six. Meanwhile, in Maryland, Florida, Minnesota, and Tennessee, to name just a few states, conservative legislators are seeking to strengthen rules that would allow "commissions" to remove judges from office for unpopular decisions. Kansas has even managed a quinella, combining anti-judicial sentiment with the "birther" movement, by pushing a measure that would require judges to prove their citizenship.

At a time of great economic turmoil and pain, while Americans have clamored for jobs and financial security, how many thousands of official hours have our state legislators spent since the 2010 election on bills that purport to solve problems that don't exist (like a Sharia-led takeover of American law) or which cannot exist in conformity with criminal law (like a state law which protects those who kill abortion providers) or which contravene individual constitutional rights (like laws that are aimed at religious minorities)? These legislative Jeremiads, frivolous even in the best of times, seem downright obscene today.

America, sadly, has grown accustomed to "symbolic" legislation which is designed not to advance the public good, or even to become sustainable law, but rather to appease particular interest groups. The campaign promise becomes the pending measure; the donor's crusade becomes the subject of public hearings. And what is squeezed out of the legislative process as a result of such pandering is the more moderate legislation, the more practical measures, which do stand a chance of passing constitutional muster and which do solve real problems in sensible ways. That's no way to run a country -- or even a state.