{"id":339577,"date":"2026-07-14T13:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/339577\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T13:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T13:31:07","slug":"the-dangers-of-floridas-new-terrorist-designations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/339577\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dangers of Florida\u2019s New \u201cTerrorist\u201d Designations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced<\/a> on July 1 his intent to designate certain Muslim and anti-fascist groups\u2014including U.S. groups\u2014as \u201cterrorist organizations.\u201d Using authorities granted to him in a new Florida law<\/a>, which took effect earlier that day, DeSantis declared that he would seek designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Brotherhood, and \u201cAntifa,\u201d among others. Within hours, the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) sued<\/a> on behalf of CAIR, a leading U.S. Muslim civil rights nonprofit, to enjoin the designation and declare the new law unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019 announcement followed an executive order<\/a> he issued last year to designate CAIR as a \u201cterrorist organization,\u201d an action temporarily halted<\/a> by a federal court. DeSantis has sought to justify the designation of CAIR by pointing to its inclusion<\/a> on a list of \u201cunindicted co-conspirators and\/or joint venturers\u201d in a material support for terrorism case\u2014even though CAIR was never charged. (Indeed, according to CAIR\u2019s latest lawsuit<\/a> against DeSantis, the organization \u201chas never been charged with or convicted of any crime, let alone one related to terrorism.\u201d) DeSantis has said<\/a> that the new law, House Bill 1471<\/a>, was written specifically to give his earlier orders \u201cmore of a legal structure\u201d and \u201cadd teeth\u201d to the designations.<\/p>\n

Florida is not alone. In 2026, lawmakers in several states<\/a> introduced new laws authorizing state officials to designate domestic organizations as \u201cterrorist\u201d entities or \u201caffiliates\u201d of terrorist groups. But Florida\u2019s law is particularly far-reaching and catastrophic in its impact on designated organizations and their supporters. As described below, designation under HB 1471 essentially makes it illegal for an organization to continue to function: Among other consequences, working for, funding, or otherwise supporting the organization becomes a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.<\/p>\n

These laws raise serious constitutional concerns<\/a> explored below, including: sweeping criminal penalties that reach First Amendment speech and association; a designation regime that gives state officials broad discretion to make designations with little due process; and potential preemption by the existing federal framework<\/a> for terrorism designations.<\/p>\n

How are domestic groups designated under Florida\u2019s HB 1471? <\/p>\n

HB 1471 authorizes Florida\u2019s\u00a0Chief of Domestic Security<\/a> to recommend designating an organization as a \u201cdomestic terrorist organization\u201d if the official \u201cfinds\u201d that the group is \u201cengaging in terrorist activity\u201d that poses an ongoing security threat. The Chief must provide \u201ca summary of the basis for\u201d the designation, but the law does not require the findings to meet any evidentiary standard. Florida law also defines \u201cterrorist activity\u201d\u00a0broadly<\/a>\u00a0to include any violent crime\u2014not just serious felonies such as murder, but also misdemeanor assault\u2014if intended to \u201cintimidate\u201d a civilian population or \u201cinfluence the policy of a government by intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once recommended, the designation must be confirmed by Florida\u2019s governor and Cabinet to take effect. DeSantis\u2019 July 1 announcement<\/a> stated that, upon confirmation by Florida\u2019s Cabinet, his intended designations would \u201ccarry the full force of state law.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is the effect of designation under Florida\u2019s HB 1471? <\/p>\n

Designation as a \u201cdomestic terrorist organization\u201d under HB 1471 exposes an organization, its members and employees, donors, and supporters to an array of serious criminal and civil penalties. These include:<\/p>\n

Criminalizing \u201csupport,\u201d including by donors, vendors, and staff. Under the law, knowingly providing or conspiring to provide \u201cmaterial support\u201d to a designated group is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison, regardless of whether the support was intended to further unlawful activity. Florida statutes\u00a0define<\/a>\u00a0\u201cmaterial support\u201d broadly as \u201cany property \u2026 or service,\u201d such that the prohibition covers not just donations, but also any form of service, including \u201cfinancial services\u201d and \u201cexpert advice or assistance.\u201d CAIR argues<\/a>, for instance, that the designation would bar lawyers, banks, vendors, accountants, and others from serving the organization. Indeed, the law makes an explicit exception only for \u201cmedicine or religious materials.\u201d Because the law\u2019s material support provision additionally prohibits \u201cwork[ing] under the direction and control\u201d of or \u201cmanag[ing]\u201d a designated organization, staff and management could face felony charges if they continued to do their jobs.<\/p>\n

Prohibiting activities that advance an organization\u2019s interests. A designated \u201cdomestic terrorist organization\u201d also qualifies as a \u201ccriminal gang\u201d under\u00a0Section 874<\/a>\u00a0of Florida statutes. Among other implications, anyone who \u201cknowingly initiates, organizes, plans, finances, directs, manages, or supervises\u201d any activity \u201ccommitted with the intent to benefit, promote, or further the interests of\u201d a designated group commits a first-degree felony. As such, third parties who engage in any activity\u2014even if lawful\u2014that is intended to benefit a designated organization\u2019s interests could seemingly face prosecution.<\/p>\n

Barring public funding. The law prohibits state and local agencies from spending public funds \u201cto support \u2026 a domestic terrorist organization, or a member of such organization.\u201d This could affect public grants, contracts, and even employment for individual members of a designated group regardless of their role in any unlawful activity.<\/p>\n

Potential dissolution. A designated group has 30 days to challenge a terrorism designation in Florida state court. Once legal challenges have been exhausted, the state can move to dissolve the organization.<\/p>\n

Restrictions on private and public schools. The law bars public schools from funding programming that \u201cpromotes\u201d a designated organization. The law also requires public colleges to expel students who \u201cpromote\u201d designated groups in a way that is deemed to support violence and interfere with the rights of others. Private schools that receive state funds are barred from hiring or contracting with individuals \u201caffiliated with\u201d designated organizations\u2014without defining what might constitute \u201caffiliation.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are the constitutional implications of CAIR\u2019s designation under Florida HB 1471?<\/p>\n

If Florida\u2019s Cabinet approves DeSantis\u2019 planned<\/a> designation of CAIR, it will immediately threaten the group\u2019s ability to function and its members\u2019 ability to engage in protected speech and association. Under HB 1471, CAIR\u2019s employees, directors, and volunteers will face the possibility of felony charges if they continue to work\u2014charges that may be based solely on their association with a designated group, rather than any actual or intended crime.<\/p>\n

The First Amendment protects the right to associate, and that protection does not disappear when a group is accused of pursuing unlawful ends. The Supreme Court held<\/a> nearly 80 years ago that \u201cfreedom to engage in association for the advancement of beliefs and ideas is an inseparable aspect\u201d of free speech and other civil liberties. Even groups accused of advocating for unlawful ends retain First Amendment protection unless<\/a> their advocacy is aimed at and likely to produce \u201cimminent lawless action.\u201d<\/p>\n

For individuals, the Court has repeatedly held<\/a> that the First Amendment limits the government\u2019s ability to impose criminal or civil liability based on mere association. In NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware<\/a> (1982), the Court noted that \u201cguilt by association is a philosophy alien to the traditions of a free society\u2026 and the First Amendment itself.\u201d In particular, individuals must know about and specifically intend to further<\/a> a group\u2019s unlawful goals or activities before they can be held liable.<\/p>\n

HB 1471 allows officials to designate and essentially ban a domestic group based on allegations that it engages in \u201cterrorist activity\u201d (broadly defined), among other things enabling the prosecution of anyone who provides \u201cmaterial support\u201d to the designated group simply if they are aware of the designation.<\/p>\n

Laws that give government officials unbridled discretion to regulate expressive conduct may violate<\/a> the First Amendment. CAIR has argued<\/a> that its designation is unlawful retaliation for speech, enabled by the discretion HB 1471 affords state officials to target lawful advocacy that the government doesn\u2019t like. The Supreme Court has held<\/a> viewpoint-based regulations of speech to be particularly offensive to the First Amendment, and presumptively unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

Nor does HB 1471 provide meaningful procedural protection. The Fourteenth Amendment requires the government to provide<\/a>\u00a0adequate notice and a meaningful opportunity to respond before it can deprive an organization of property. HB 1471 requires officials to try to notify an organization of impending designation, but not on any particular timeline and only if notice \u201ccan be delivered\u2026 safely.\u201d The notice need not include the basis for the designation. Further, under HB 1473<\/a>\u2014enacted alongside HB 1471\u2014evidence underlying a designation determination is exempted from Florida\u2019s public records law, limiting organizations\u2019 access to it and undermining their ability to challenge the designation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These concerns are underscored by the Supreme Court\u2019s treatment of the federal material support statute<\/a> in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project<\/a> (2010). There, the Court upheld the statute as applied to support for federally designated foreign terrorist organizations, but made clear that the prohibition did not apply to independent advocacy for a terrorist group or cause. The Court\u00a0also expressly<\/a>\u00a0did \u201cnot suggest that Congress could extend the same prohibition on material support at issue here to domestic organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does it mean for \u201cAntifa\u201d and the \u201cMuslim Brotherhood\u201d to be designated under the Florida law? <\/p>\n

The concerns described above are magnified when the designated organization isn\u2019t an \u201corganization\u201d at all. While CAIR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with directors, staff, offices, and so on, \u201cAntifa\u201d is not<\/a>. There is no single, specific \u201cAntifa\u201d organization<\/a> in Florida or anywhere else in the United States, nor is there a national or global \u201cAntifa\u201d organization with chapters. As then-FBI Director Christopher Wray testified<\/a> in 2020, Antifa is \u201cnot a group or an organization. It\u2019s a movement or an ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n

As such, if the Florida Cabinet confirms DeSantis\u2019 intended \u201cAntifa\u201d designation, it would not be clear what or who would be designated. DeSantis did not shed much light on the matter during his July 1 press conference<\/a>, during which he described \u201cAntifa\u201d as \u201cmilitant leftists\u201d whose \u201cideas\u201d he doesn\u2019t like but whose \u201cconduct\u201d is the target of the designation. Without an actual organization to designate, the effects of designation threaten to fall on individuals and entities based on their politics or ideology.<\/p>\n

Because the vagueness of a potential \u201cAntifa\u201d designation carries legal consequences, it risks chilling lawful conduct and sweeping in constitutionally protected speech and association, potentially reaching members or supporters of any group that identifies as anti-fascist regardless of whether they have broken a law. Because \u201cAntifa\u201d is arguably more ideological<\/a> than organizational, its designation under HB 1471 could amount to impermissible viewpoint discrimination.<\/p>\n

Similar problems arise with DeSantis\u2019 planned domestic terrorist designation of the \u201cMuslim Brotherhood.\u201d Other than a small 501(c)(3) in Trenton, New Jersey, called \u201cInternational Muslim Brotherhood Incorporated<\/a>,\u201d the IRS has no record of a \u201cMuslim Brotherhood\u201d organization in the United States. The Muslim Brotherhood is better known as a transnational Sunni Islamist movement or network<\/a> with chapters mostly in the Middle East. Its potential designation as a domestic terrorist organization under HB 1471 threatens to chill First Amendment activity by Muslim community groups and advocates.<\/p>\n

Is Florida the only state that designates domestic entities as terrorist organizations? <\/p>\n

In 2026, Indiana enacted Senate Bill 256<\/a>, authorizing the governor to designate domestic groups and individuals as \u201caffiliates\u201d of a federally designated\u00a0foreign terrorist organization (FTO)<\/a>. The law\u2014which also went into effect July 1<\/a>\u2014defines \u201caffiliate\u201d broadly to include someone who \u201cacts or acted in any capacity at the order or request\u201d of an FTO or provided \u201cmaterial support or resources to aid\u201d an FTO. Violations of the law are punishable by up to $10,000 per incident.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers in several other states\u2014Arizona<\/a>, Louisiana<\/a>, and Oklahoma<\/a>\u2014introduced bills in 2026 that would authorize state officials to designate domestic organizations as \u201cterrorist\u201d entities. These bills failed to advance in the 2026 session.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive proclamation<\/a> that, like Governor DeSantis\u2019 order in Florida, sought to designate CAIR as a terrorist organization, triggering serious legal consequences<\/a> under state law. As in Florida, CAIR sued<\/a>, alleging First Amendment violations; the litigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Florida and Indiana\u2019s new laws (the former more pernicious than the latter) and those proposed in other states represent a significant shift. While 32 states and Washington, D.C. have domestic terrorism laws<\/a>\u00a0on the books\u2014many\u00a0already criticized as overbroad<\/a>\u2014those laws generally criminalize individual conduct. The new state designation laws go further by allowing state officials to label entire domestic organizations as terrorist entities and impose sweeping civil and criminal consequences, often with limited procedural safeguards and based on vague definitions that can criminalize protected First Amendment activity.<\/p>\n

How do these state designations relate to federal designations of foreign and domestic terrorist organizations, including President Donald Trump\u2019s designation of \u201cAntifa\u201d? <\/p>\n

New state-level terrorism designation laws depart from the traditional\u00a0federal framework<\/a>\u00a0for terrorism designations, allowing state officials to make designation determinations long reserved to federal authorities. Federal law provides, for example, for the designation of \u201cSpecially Designated Global Terrorists\u201d and \u201cForeign Terrorist Organizations\u201d (FTOs), and makes it a crime to provide \u201cmaterial support\u201d to FTOs. Because federal law provides for an extensive, uniform national scheme for terrorism designations, state laws that provide for designation of domestic groups may be vulnerable to federal preemption<\/a> challenges.<\/p>\n

In September 2025, Trump issued an executive order<\/a> designating \u201cAntifa\u201d\u00a0as a \u201cDomestic Terrorist Organization.\u201d The designation was not based in any underlying statutory authority and, as such, did not and does not trigger new criminal penalties for members of the designated \u201centity\u201d or those who support it. However, together with National Security Presidential Memo 7<\/a> (NSPM-7), issued shortly after, the executive order does direct federal executive agencies to investigate and prosecute unlawful conduct by \u201cAntifa,\u201d individuals claiming to act on behalf of \u201cAntifa,\u201d as well as those who fund such conduct. Following the Antifa order and NSPM-7, the Trump administration has linked numerous prosecutions<\/a> to its ongoing \u201ccampaign to eradicate Antifa\u2019s domestic terrorism threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Editor\u2019s note: Readers may be interested in Tom Joscelyn<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Ryan Goodman<\/a>, The Smearing of Alex Pretti and NSPM-7<\/a>, Just Security (Jan. 26, 2026)]<\/p>\n

Why does the new Florida law, and others like it, matter? <\/p>\n

Anyone who cares about the freedoms of speech and association protected by the First Amendment should be concerned about HB 1471 and the spread of state-level terrorism designation laws. The laws provide officials with sweeping discretion to target groups and advocacy that the government doesn\u2019t like. Whether or not HB 1471 survives constitutional challenge remains to be seen, and that outcome will be critical to whether other states enact similar designation schemes. Courts should step in to protect civil liberties and ensure that states cannot use \u201cterrorist\u201d designations to punish disfavored speech and association.<\/p>\n

FEATURED IMAGE: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference at Florida International University on September 25, 2025, in Miami, Florida. (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA \/ AFP) (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on July 1 his intent to designate certain Muslim and anti-fascist groups\u2014including U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[126962,72096,28,30,29,139567,10325,1598,412,139568,2374],"class_list":["post-339577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-civil-liberties","tag-domestic-terrorism","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-foreign-terrorist-organization-fto","tag-freedom-of-speech","tag-law-enforcement","tag-ron-desantis","tag-rule-of-law","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}