A Muslim civil rights group is suing Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Florida officials in a challenge to a new law that allows state officials to administratively designate groups as “domestic terrorist organizations.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its Florida affiliate filed the federal lawsuit July 2 in the Northern District of Florida, alleging that House Bills 1471 and 1473 will allow Florida’s Cabinet to effectively incapacitate CAIR-Florida in violation of the nonprofit’s First and 14th Amendment protections.
In a statement on July 1, DeSantis said Florida officials had begun to officially designate terrorist groups under the provisions of the new law.
“In addition to CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood, we are adding Antifa to the list – along with more than 90 Foreign Terrorist Organizations, including cartels,” he said.
The mission of CAIR and its Florida affiliate is to broaden the public’s understanding of Islam, protect civil rights and empower American Muslims, according to the legal complaint. CAIR denies it engages in any terrorist activities, emphasizing that it organizes community events, publishes advocacy materials, speaks out on public policies and provides legal advice, according to the lawsuit.
“In effect, the state’s new designation regime empowers Gov. DeSantis, the chief of domestic security and the Cabinet to play judge, jury and nonprofit executioner,” the complaint says, indicating that the new law subjects the nonprofit’s workers and others who work with the group to harsh civil and criminal penalties.
The lawsuit follows another legal action filed by CAIR against state officials over a DeSantis executive order in December that “directed state agencies to deny taxpayer funding, contracts, employment and other public support where authorized by law.”
Those who knowingly provide support or resources to designated domestic terrorist groups face criminal penalties, the Governor’s Office said. The office did not respond to a request for comment on the new lawsuit.
Anna Diakun, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, called the Florida law dangerous and unconstitutional.
“It gives state officials sweeping power to target and punish civil society organizations they disfavor, based on unproven allegations,” Diakun told the Florida Record in an email. “Laws like this one invite abuse, and they pose a direct threat to First Amendment freedoms of speech and association.”
The complaint stressed that the law allows state officials to designate a group as a domestic terrorist organization without giving the group an opportunity to challenge the action in a neutral venue. This runs afoul of 14th Amendment due-process rights, according to CAIR.
The lawsuit seeks to bar the defendants from designating groups as domestic terrorists, to enjoin them from enforcing any penalties related to the new law and to bar defendants from using the law to block legal services to or by the plaintiffs under the the law’s provisions.
“… The Constitution does not allow elected officials to punish American nonprofits and deny them the fundamentals of due process because of disagreement with their views,” Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a prepared statement. “Florida’s imminent designation of our clients is both dire and unmoored from reality. …”
CAIR’s national headquarters said in a statement that DeSantis had repeatedly targeted CAIR in official actions.
“We see through Gov. DeSantis’ latest biased attempt to punish us for our views and our values,” the statement says. “We look forward to fighting these baseless attacks in court and proving once again that the Constitution is stronger than any politician’s bigotry.”
