the final days of the legislature. He promised to make the issue a priority — that this year would be different. And this year, for the first time, the House and Senate unanimously approved legislation that would establish a court process for a woman to seek termination of parental rights of a rapist-father. Yet amazingly the bill died again, at the close of the session, as the two chambers failed to reconcile differences in their two versions of the bill.

Advocates complained that Mr. Zirkin delayed in appointing members to a conference committee. They noted that neither he nor Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Prince George’s), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, named a single woman to the conference committee. “Chairman Zirkin knows how to pass a bill and howSharia Law - whether by force and violence or by political subversion, are not entitled to any of the rights, privileges, and immunities attendant upon religious bodies created under the jurisdiction of the laws of the United States or any political subdivision thereof; and whatever rights, privileges, and immunities which have heretofore been granted to said party or any subsidiary organization by reason of the laws of the United States or any political subdivision thereof, are hereby terminated. Individuals adhering to a body of religious beliefs that includes jihad and sharia are not entitled, in virtue of such religious membership or belief, to the special protections afforded to religious practice under the laws of the United States or any political subdivision thereof.”

What does this accomplish, exactly? First, it