The Council on American-Islamic Relations sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday, one day after the state formally designated the group a domestic terrorist organization under a newly enacted state law.
CAIR filed the complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida alongside the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center, challenging the constitutionality of HB 1471, which took effect Wednesday. The law gives the Florida Department of Law Enforcement authority to recommend designating organizations operating in the state as domestic or foreign terrorist organizations.
DeSantis announced Wednesday that CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Antifa would be tagged as domestic terrorist organizations under the new statute. He said he had also received recommendations to designate more than 90 other groups as foreign terrorist organizations, including Cartel de Sinaloa, Tren de Aragua, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran, Cartel de Noreste, and Cartel de Golfo.
“Keeping our community safe starts with identifying the threat,” said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass in a Wednesday statement. “The safety of our community is strengthened by that knowledge every day, and reinforced by the collaboration between our officers, our federal partners, and most importantly, the people we serve.”
The lawsuit accuses DeSantis of violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments by branding organizations without due process or judicial review.
“Gov. DeSantis does not have the power to unilaterally brand an organization with this vilifying designation and punish those who support it without due process or judicial review,” said Scott McCoy, SPLC deputy legal director. “Denying due process and suppressing and punishing constitutionally protected speech and advocacy are clear violations of both the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”
CAIR argues the domestic terrorist designation would impose “draconian consequences,” effectively barring it from operating in Florida. Under the law, a designated organization cannot employ staff, work with volunteers, fundraise, make bank deposits or withdrawals, lease or rent property, or use social media without exposing its leadership and supporters to criminal and civil penalties.
“As a result of the DTO regime, an organization that is designated simply cannot function or exist in Florida in any meaningful sense,” the lawsuit states.
This is not the first legal confrontation between DeSantis and CAIR. In December, the governor signed an executive order labeling CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations. A federal judge blocked that order in March. DeSantis appealed that ruling and said the Legislature had since provided a stronger legal framework for such designations.
“We need more of a legal structure to be able to add teeth to these designations, and the Legislature responded, and I signed that legislation earlier this year,” DeSantis said Wednesday.
