Fact check: Trump didn’t fire Muslim federal judge

Associated Press | AP

Dearborn – A story circulating on social media falsely claims President Donald Trump has removed a Muslim federal judge for trying to implement Sharia law in the United States.

The identically worded stories from the floxyupdates and us-leader sites say Trump used an executive order to fire Justice Hansam al Alallawalahi-Smith of the 22nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Dearborn, Michigan.

There is no federal judge by that name, there is no such court and presidents cannot remove judges from office with executive orders. The Constitution requires impeachment to remove a federal judge from the bench.

Sharia is Islamic law, as derived from the Quran and the traditions of Islam. The story alleged Smith made a ruling that would let a man abuse his wife if she talked to another man and would permit a husband to beat his wife if “she were to act on her impulses.”

It’s similar to stories previously shared online about the nonexistent judge. The latest sites to run such a story couldn’t be reached for comment, as they published no contact information and registered their pages through third-party services.