{"id":86484,"date":"2025-12-17T10:19:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T10:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/86484\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T10:19:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T10:19:14","slug":"muslim-rights-group-challenges-desantis-order-tallahassee-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/86484\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim Rights Group Challenges DeSantis Order \u2013 Tallahassee Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By: Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida<\/p>\n

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 \u201cterrorist\u201d organization is unconstitutionally \u201cpunitive and discriminatory\u201d and exceeded the governor\u2019s authority.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit accused DeSantis of targeting the country\u2019s leading Muslim-rights organization because of its advocacy and of retaliating against the group for challenging the governor\u2019s efforts to dismantle pro-Palestinian groups on college campuses and for condemning Islamophobia.<\/p>\n

DeSantis \u201cusurped the exclusive authority of the federal government to identify and designate terrorist organizations by baselessly declaring CAIR a terrorist organization,\u201d the lawsuit, filed Monday in the federal Northern District of Florida, said.<\/p>\n

The governor also violated the group\u2019s due-process rights \u201cby unilaterally declaring CAIR a terrorist organization and then ordering immediate punitive, discriminatory action against CAIR and its supporters,\u201d lawyers for the group argued.<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019 Dec. 8 executive order designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations. During an appearance last week, DeSantis said he would \u201cwelcome\u201d a lawsuit from CAIR challenging the order \u201cbecause what will happen is that will give the state of Florida discovery rights to be able to subpoena (CAIR\u2019s) bank records.\u201d<\/p>\n

In part, the executive order alleged that people associated with CAIR, which has 20 chapters in Florida, \u201chave been convicted of providing, and conspiring to provide, material support to designated terrorist organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201cmaterial support\u201d to CAIR, including \u201cexpert advice or assistance.\u201d The order also directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol to pursue unspecified \u201cmeasures\u201d against the group and its members.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, however, said the order \u201cidentifies no criminal charges or convictions, relies on no federal designation, and inaccurately invokes statutory authority\u201d for the designation.<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019 order \u201crests on political rhetoric and imposes sweeping legal consequences on a domestic civil rights organization because of its viewpoints and advocacy,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

CAIR was among the organizations involved in litigation over the state\u2019s efforts to disband pro-Palestinian student groups from college and university campuses following Hamas\u2019 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\u2019 threats to dismantle the groups.<\/p>\n

Amid the litigation, state university system Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said university officials hadn\u2019t taken any action to dissolve the groups. Rodrigues also said both universities had obtained legal opinions raising concerns about \u201cpotential personal liability for university actors\u201d charged with dismantling the groups.<\/p>\n

CAIR also has played a leading role in defending civil rights of other people and organizations \u201clawfully advocating for Palestinian human rights,\u201d the group\u2019s attorneys said in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, DeSantis\u2019 order had \u201can immediate effect\u201d on CAIR because of the threats to third parties associated with the group.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cwas intended to advance CAIR National\u2019s public education and civil rights mission through lawful expressive activity,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n

The company \u201cwithdrew from the agreement after being advised against working with CAIR \u2026 and the perceived risk of government retaliation, investigation, or legal exposure arising from association with CAIR,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019 order is \u201cone of the most extreme abuses of executive power that we\u2019ve seen in modern American history,\u201d CAIR litigation director Lena Masri told reporters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Masri said the federal government \u2014 not states \u2014 has the authority to label groups as terrorists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not how this country works. No governor has the power to unilaterally declare an American nonprofit a terrorist organization,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019 order mirrors a proclamation issued last month by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, which CAIR also is challenging in federal court.<\/p>\n

In anticipating the lawsuit, DeSantis said he \u201cwelcomed\u201d the legal challenge because it would present an opportunity for the state to examine CAIR\u2019s finances, which the governor indicated could show links to Hamas.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould be illuminating!\u201d DeSantis posted on X last week.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit pointed to DeSantis\u2019 comments, saying the governor \u201cpublicly framed the executive order and the resulting litigation as a means to subject CAIR to scrutiny and investigation\u201d and revealed the order\u2019s \u201cimproper 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, the organization\u2019s national deputy director, described the governors\u2019 actions as attempts to \u201creplicate the same tactics\u201d that leaders in Southern states used in the 1960s to quash civil-rights organizations such as the NAACP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey 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,\u201d Mitchell said Tuesday. \u201cUltimately, those racist segregationist governors failed, but the tactics they employed have once again come to life today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government \u201ccannot punish Americans because of our speech,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law still matters. Facts still matter. Due process matters. Free speech matters. And that\u2019s why we\u2019re taking Ron DeSantis to court: to remind him that he\u2019s the governor of Florida, not the king of Florida,\u201d Mitchell added.<\/p>\n

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