The Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a lawsuit alleging an executive order issued by Gov. Ron DeSantis that designated the group as a “terrorist” organization is unconstitutionally “punitive and discriminatory” and exceeded the governor’s authority.
The lawsuit accused DeSantis of targeting the country’s leading Muslim-rights organization because of its advocacy and of retaliating against the group for challenging the governor’s efforts to dismantle pro-Palestinian groups on college campuses and for condemning Islamophobia.
DeSantis “usurped the exclusive authority of the federal government to identify and designate terrorist organizations by baselessly declaring CAIR a terrorist organization,” the lawsuit, filed Monday in the federal Northern District of Florida, said.
The governor also violated the group’s due-process rights “by unilaterally declaring CAIR a terrorist organization and then ordering immediate punitive, discriminatory action against CAIR and its supporters,” lawyers for the group argued.
DeSantis’ Dec. 8 executive order designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations. During an appearance last week, DeSantis said he would “welcome” a lawsuit from CAIR challenging the order “because what will happen is that will give the state of Florida discovery rights to be able to subpoena (CAIR’s) bank records.”
In part, the executive order alleged that people associated with CAIR, which has 20 chapters in Florida, “have been convicted of providing, and conspiring to provide, material support to designated terrorist organizations.”
The order directed state agencies, as well as counties and municipalities, to deny contracts, employment, funding, benefits and privileges to CAIR and anyone known to provide "material support" to CAIR, including "expert advice or assistance.” The order also directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol to pursue unspecified “measures” against the group and its members.
The lawsuit, however, said the order “identifies no criminal charges or convictions, relies on no federal designation, and inaccurately invokes statutory authority” for the designation.
DeSantis’ order “rests on political rhetoric and imposes sweeping legal consequences on a domestic civil rights organization because of its viewpoints and advocacy,” attorneys for CAIR Legal Defense Fund, the Muslim Legal Fund of America, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Michigan-based Akeel & Valentine, PLC law firm wrote in the lawsuit.
CAIR was among the organizations involved in litigation over the state’s efforts to disband pro-Palestinian student groups from college and university campuses following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed about 1,200 Israelis and set off the deadly war that has included Israel leveling large parts of Gaza.
Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida and Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of South Florida filed First Amendment lawsuits in 2023 challenging state university system officials’ threats to dismantle the groups.
Amid the litigation, state university system Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said university officials hadn’t taken any action to dissolve the groups. Rodrigues also said both universities had obtained legal opinions raising concerns about “potential personal liability for university actors” charged with dismantling the groups.
CAIR also has played a leading role in defending civil rights of other people and organizations “lawfully advocating for Palestinian human rights,” the group’s attorneys said in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, DeSantis’ order had “an immediate effect” on CAIR because of the threats to third parties associated with the group.
The national branch of the organization was in the final stages of launching a new podcast and had entered into an agreement with a Florida-based production company. The podcast “was intended to advance CAIR National’s public education and civil rights mission through lawful expressive activity,” the lawsuit said.
The company “withdrew from the agreement after being advised against working with CAIR … and the perceived risk of government retaliation, investigation, or legal exposure arising from association with CAIR,” according to the lawsuit.
DeSantis’ order is “one of the most extreme abuses of executive power that we’ve seen in modern American history,” CAIR litigation director Lena Masri told reporters on Tuesday.
Masri said the federal government — not states — has the authority to label groups as terrorists. “That is not how this country works. No governor has the power to unilaterally declare an American nonprofit a terrorist organization,” she said.
DeSantis’ order mirrors a proclamation issued last month by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, which CAIR also is challenging in federal court.
In anticipating the lawsuit, DeSantis said he “welcomed” the legal challenge because it would present an opportunity for the state to examine CAIR’s finances, which the governor indicated could show links to Hamas.
“Should be illuminating!” DeSantis posted on X last week.
The lawsuit pointed to DeSantis’ comments, saying the governor “publicly framed the executive order and the resulting litigation as a means to subject CAIR to scrutiny and investigation” and revealed the order’s “improper purpose: retaliate against CAIR for its protected advocacy, deter constitutionally-protected expression, and attempt to justify intrusive government scrutiny unrelated to any legitimate state interest.”
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the organization’s national deputy director, described the governors’ actions as attempts to “replicate the same tactics” that leaders in Southern states used in the 1960s to quash civil-rights organizations such as the NAACP.
“They subjected them to witch hunts. They tried to ban them from operating. They tried to prosecute their members. They tried to access their membership list to scare away their donors and their supporters,” Mitchell said Tuesday. “Ultimately, those racist segregationist governors failed, but the tactics they employed have once again come to life today.”
The government “cannot punish Americans because of our speech,” Mitchell said.
“The law still matters. Facts still matter. Due process matters. Free speech matters. And that’s why we’re taking Ron DeSantis to court: to remind him that he’s the governor of Florida, not the king of Florida,” Mitchell added.
