(The Center Square) – A federal judge in Austin has handed Gov. Greg Abbott a win in his legal battle against the U.S. Council on American-Islamic Relations, agreeing to require CAIR to provide donor information the governor requested.
Judge Alan Albright issued an order late Wednesday granting in part and denying in part CAIR Foundation’s motion for a protective order in response to Abbott’s motion to compel it to provide donor information.
The ruling is the latest in a lawsuit CAIR filed against the governor after he designated CAIR a Foreign Terrorist Organization last November. Abbott has taken a series of actions against CAIR, including calling for investigations into it and other groups, The Center Square reported. CAIR denies the allegations and says it has nothing to do with terrorism.
In response to the ruling, Abbott said in a statement, “Progress in my legal fight against CAIR. I declared CAIR a Foreign Terrorist Organization. They sued to block it. I demanded CAIR give us its donor list, donee list, and details for Nihad Awad’s travel to 9 countries hosting Islamic terror. A federal court granted my request.” He’s referring to the cofounder and executive director of CAIR who was embraced by former President George W. Bush days after 9/11.
Albright directed CAIR to respond to Abbott’s Requests for Production “to determine the identities of CAIR National’s donors” based on several criteria. In FRP 2, Abbott asked for information about those who donated $5,000 or more to CAIR National or its Washington Trust Foundation over the last 10 years. Albright ordered that only foreign donor information be provided and only over a four-year period.
In FRP 3, Abbott asked for documents to be provided to identify donors who gave $1,000 or more to CAIR National, CAIR Action Network, Inc., and the Washington Trust Foundation over the last 10 years. Albright ordered information be provided about donors who gave $2,500 or more in any single year over the same time frame.
In RFP 4, Abbott asked for “all communications and documents relating to, referring to, soliciting, or indicating receipt of funds in the last ten years from any source, whether private or public, on behalf of CAIR National, CAIR Foundation, its affiliate chapters, CAIR Action Network, Inc., the Washington Trust Foundation, or any other entity controlled by CAIR.” Albright directed the foundation to produce the information requested from any foreign source over the same four-year time-period.
In RFP 5, Abbott asked CAIR to produce all documents related to any trips Awad, Edward Mitchell or Ibrahim Hooper to any foreign country. Albright directed the foundation to produce documents to identify Awad’s itineraries “(including his dates of travel, meetings in which he participated, and the identity of individuals with whom he met) for trips to Egypt, Gaza, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UAE during which he met with individuals regarding operations or funding of the Foundation, the Washington Trust Foundation, Hamas, or the Muslim Brotherhood from October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2023.”
Abbott also asked for documents and communications related to “terrorism, terrorist organizations, or other illegal activities.” The judge ordered the foundation to provide Abbott with “a term-by-term hit count for the terms and timeframes” and for the governor to agree on or consider narrowing search parameters.
Attorney General Ken Paxton also filed a similar motion to Abbott’s but the governor has led the charge in Texas against CAIR, including chastising Paxton for a lack of action, The Center Square reported. The judge issued similar orders in response to OAG RFPs and set deadlines for CAIR to respond by May 8 and May 15. He also denied the foundation’s request for the state to pay for its costs associated with producing the information.
In addition to denying accusations related to terrorism, CAIR points to a report published by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate that argues anti-Muslim social media posts have “helped fuel an online atmosphere of hysteria, which in turn generated political pressure for state action.”
The report identified nearly 300,000 social media posts about “Islamophobic content in Texas.” It also notes that characteristics about Muslim life, like religious observance or women wearing hijab “are misrepresented as evidence of a ‘Muslim invasion.’” It points to “social media influencers,” podcasters and far right activists using “Crusade” language, organizing protests outside of mosques and “inciting, stigmatizing content … reinforcing a false association between Muslim civic presence and terrorism.”
CAIR also designated a U.S. House Sharia Free Caucus led by Texas Republican U.S. Reps. Chip Roy and Keith Self as an “anti-Muslim hate group.” It’s also designated several Republican members of Congress as “anti-Muslim Extremists.”
