3/5/26 Reposted from asamnews.com
A December executive order signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., deeming the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a foreign terrorist organization, was blocked in federal court on Wednesday, CAIR announced in a press release.
In the directive, the governor made the same designation for the Muslim Brotherhood. DeSantis’s office claimed CAIR has ties with Hamas in an effort to justify the order.
CAIR’s legal defense fund, as well as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Akeel & Valentine, and the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA), won the injunction, with U.S. District Judge Mark Walker citing the First Amendment.
“The First Amendment bars the Governor from continuing the troubling trend of using an executive office to make a political statement at the expense of others’ constitutional rights,” Walker wrote in the order.
Furthermore, Walker commented on the order itself and its threat to cease any state funding towards those found to be contributing materially to CAIR.
“The threat here is sweeping and clear,” he wrote. “Any relationship with [CAIR] will be punished by cutting off access to all benefits even peripherally within [DeSantis’s] control.”
Scott McCoy, the deputy of legal director of the SPLC, echoed this sentiment.
“This executive order was never about public safety – it was about targeting a Muslim organization for its speech and its advocacy,” McCoy said in the press release.
Florida is not the only state where CAIR’s operations have been subject to scrutiny by government officials. In November, one month before DeSantis’s executive order, Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, established the same foreign terrorism designation for CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Abbott’s order was supported by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who claimed that CAIR was a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR has denied relation to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as to any foreign movements more broadly.
“Amid widespread attempts by politicians to undermine our democracy, including attacks on free speech, religious freedom, immigrant rights, and due process, this federal court ruling serves as a reminder that the Constitution still matters,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said.
