A federal appeals court has upheld a stay on an Oklahoma constitutional amendment that would ban state courts from considering international or Islamic law. Muneer Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma, sued to block the amendment that was approved by 70 percent of Oklahoma voters in November 2010. Awad argued that the Save Our State Amendment violated his First Amendment rights. In an opinion issued Tuesday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Awad made "a strong showing" that he would prevail at trial. Backers of the amendment said it didn't specifically aim to block the use of Sharia law and that Awad was only speculating that he'd be injured by the measure as it hadn't yet taken effect.