11/20/25 Reposted from cbsaustin.com
AUSTIN, Texas — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeking to block enforcement of Abbott’s proclamation designating the organization as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, challenges Abbott’s Nov. 18 proclamation as unconstitutional and defamatory. The suit was brought by CAIR’s Texas chapters in Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin, represented by the Muslim Legal Fund of America and CAIR Legal Defense Fund.
“Defendant Abbott is properly before this Court because his actions violated the First Amendment by issuing a Proclamation that chills Plaintiffs’ freedom of speech and freedom of association,” the lawsuit states. “Defendant Paxton is properly before this Court because he is charged with enforcing an unconstitutional act violating the federal constitution, causing imminent threat of harm to Plaintiffs.”
“CAIR Legal Defense Fund has successfully sued and defeated Texas Governor Greg Abbott the last three times he tried to violate the First Amendment by punishing critics of the Israeli government,” said CAIR Litigation Director Lena Masri in a statement. “No civil rights organizations are safe if a governor can baselessly and unilaterally declare any of them terrorist groups.”
It was filed the same day Abbott directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch criminal investigations into CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood.
In a letter to DPS Director Freeman Martin, Abbott ordered the agency to work with FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces statewide to gather intelligence and investigate potential violations of state and federal law. The directive instructs DPS to examine possible money laundering, criminal conspiracy and what Abbott described as attempts to “forcibly impose Sharia law” in Texas.
Abbott accused CAIR of being a subsidiary of the Muslim Brotherhood and alleged the organization recently awarded $1,000 grants to university students disciplined for campus protests related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“We must aggressively confront individuals or groups who seek to unlawfully proliferate radical Islamic ideology, including attempts to impose Sharia law, fully recognizing the threat it presents to the security and sovereignty of the State of Texas and its people,” Abbott wrote.
The directive comes two days after Abbott formally designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as “foreign terrorist organizations” under state authority.
Abbott’s letter instructs DPS to partner with the Texas attorney general’s office for oversight of nonprofit organizations and to utilize the state’s Terrorist Offender Registration Program when appropriate. The directive emphasizes investigating individuals or groups “seeking to enforce any law outside of, or contrary to, state or federal law.”
CAIR’s attorneys will be holding a press conference Thursday afternoon to address the lawsuit. CBS Austin has reached out to Abbott and Paxton’s offices for statements.
