January 23, 2026 | Yesterday, MLFA’s Civil Litigation Department and CAIR LDF filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against Governor Abbott’s Proclamation 41-4241, which unlawfully designates CAIR and its affiliates as foreign terrorist and criminal organizations.
Governor Abbott lacks the authority to designate any entity as a foreign terrorist or criminal organization under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which overrides state law in areas regulated by the federal government. Governor Abbott’s unlawful designations subject CAIR’s affiliates to heightened penalties under Texas law and prohibitions on purchasing or acquiring property in Texas, all without the constitutional requirement of due process. MLFA and CAIR LDF ask the Court to prohibit Governor Abbott and Attorney General Paxton from enforcing any part of the Proclamation and subjecting CAIR’s Texas affiliates, the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, to any penalties resulting from the Proclamation.
“Governor Abbott is not the President and has no authority to designate any entity as a foreign terrorist organization or transnational criminal organization, let alone a longstanding American civil rights organization. This Proclamation continues his pattern of escalating Islamophobia in Texas. We hope the Court will agree with our motion and stop the Governor and Attorney General from unlawfully stigmatizing CAIR’s Texas affiliates and prohibiting them from exercising their rights to acquire property in Texas.”
- Chelsea Glover, MLFA Civil Litigation Senior Staff Attorney
“This case is about whether the rule of law still means something in Texas. If a governor can unilaterally brand Muslim civil-rights organizations as ‘terrorist’ and impose penalties without any process, then no organization, and no community, is safe from political retaliation. We are calling on this Court to put an immediate stop to this abuse of power, to protect communities from state overreach, and to reaffirm that constitutional limits exist precisely to restrain government when it targets those it seeks to silence.”
- Jinan Chehade, MLFA Civil Litigation Junior Staff Attorney
