Overview
- CAIR-Foundation and CAIR-Florida filed suit in federal court in Tallahassee seeking to block Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order as unlawful and unconstitutional.
- The executive order bars state contracts, employment and funds for CAIR and directs the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to take unspecified measures, while also naming the Muslim Brotherhood.
- Plaintiffs argue only the U.S. State Department can make foreign terrorist designations and say the order violates due process and the First Amendment; civil-rights partners including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Muslim Legal Fund of America joined the case.
- DeSantis says he welcomes the litigation and potential discovery into CAIR’s finances and has signaled he wants lawmakers to pursue follow-up legislation.
- Texas issued a similar proclamation in November that blocks CAIR from acquiring land, which CAIR is also challenging in federal court, while other Republican governors with CAIR chapters have not announced comparable actions.