American Public Policy Alliance

The American Public Policy Alliance is a non-profit advocacy group that promotes rejecting the use of "international law and foreign law in court opinions when those conflict with both Constitutional liberties and protections, and state public policy.". The organization is well known for working with anti-Islamic "experts" like David Yerushalmi to lobby for the adoption of model anti-Sharia bills in state legislatures.

History

The APPA was founded in 2009 in Michigan and "began recruiting dozens of lawyers to act as legislative sponsors" for a model bill drafted by Yerushalmi called "American Laws for American Courts." The statute was intended to "prevent state judges from considering foreign laws or rulings that violate constitutional rights in the United States."

Policy positions

Shariah Law

The APPA claims that "Shariah mandates violent Jihad as a religious obligation" and has the ultimate goal of establishing "Islam's rule worldwide." It thus takes the following position on Shariah: "Shariah law, as an example of foreign law, may result in the violation, in the specific matter at issue, of a liberty guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States or the public policies of the state in question. Such violations would include but not be limited to infringements on due process, freedom of religion, speech, or press, equal protection, and any right of privacy or marriage as specifically defined by the constitution of the state.".

Transnationalism

The APPA defines "transnationalism" as the practice of the "American judicial community looking to international and foreign law in making legal decisions and establishing legal precedents" and believes it is a threat because "it advances the idea that American courts should look to laws that have not undergone the political process in the United States to become law."