I’m not sure that one has to go that far. There are many international organizations operating in the United States and other countries that have their own internal laws. The International Olympic Committee is one example, as are many religions and charitable organizations. There is nothing wrong with having these internal laws, but they are all subject to local civil laws. Canon law carries no more weight in American civil law than does Sharia law or for that matter the rules of golf. They cannot overrule civil law, but they can direct the members of the organisation to disobey civil law. And this is precisely what canon law did in respect of reporting child sexual abuse in the United States from 1922 to 2002. It required bishops to obey the pontifical secret over child sexual abuse allegations and to break the civil law where reporting was obligatory. Unfortunately most chose to obey canon law over the civil law.