Muslim group sues DeSantis over his executive order

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the U.S. and state constitutions with an executive order labeling the Council on American-Islamic Relations a terrorist organization, the Muslim civil rights group says in a new federal lawsuit.

The litigation claims DeSantis’ Dec. 8 directive blocking CAIR’s activities in the state stems from an “Israel First” ideology and from a quest for retribution due to previous CAIR legal efforts to block Florida from punishing Palestinian human rights supporters in the state.

The governor’s action also defies the federal government’s sole authority to designate terrorist groups and denies CAIR’s due process rights by ordering state law enforcement and other agencies to take immediate action against the group, including barring it from access to state contracts, workman’s comp and other benefits and privileges.

“The executive order was issued against the backdrop of plaintiffs’ civil rights advocacy and litigation opposing actions by Florida officials — including defendant DeSantis — that sought to suppress speech supporting Palestinian human rights and Muslim civic participation,” CAIR said in the suit filed Dec. 15 in U.S. District for the Northern District of Florida.

“The executive order identifies no criminal charges or convictions, relies on no federal designation and inaccurately invokes statutory authority. It rests on political rhetoric and imposes sweeping legal consequences on a domestic civil rights organization because of its viewpoints and advocacy.”

DeSantis’ executive order followed a Nov. 18 proclamation from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood “Foreign Terrorist and Transnational Criminal Organizations.”

Abbott asserted: “The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world.’ The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation and harassment are unacceptable.”

Abbott’s proclamation, which bars the groups from owning property in Texas, followed the recent passage of a measure blocking faith-based residential property developments including EPIC City, a proposed 400-acre, Muslim-led project in suburban Dallas.

The Texas governor also claimed CAIR is the successor of the Muslim Brotherhood and is a front for Hamas, the Palestinian group that attacked Israel in October 2023. But like DeSantis’ declaration, Abbott provided no evidence to support the allegations against CAIR, the group said.

CAIR and other Muslim leaders denied Abbott’s accusations.

“The organization’s mission is to promote justice, protect civil rights and improve public understanding of Islam, and it has consistently stood up to bigotry, racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism and anti-Palestinian discrimination,” said CAIR spokesman Robert McCaw in a letter to Abbott.

The organization sued Abbott in November to prevent Texas from taking action on the “unconstitutional and defamatory” proclamation.

“This designation is unconstitutional and unsupported by any credible factual basis and represents bigotry on its face,” said Murtaza Sutarwalla, an attorney and president of the Houston Muslim Bar Association.

The action against Abbott was filed on behalf of CAIR by the Muslim Legal Defense Fund of America and the CAIR Legal Defense Fund.

The legal action against DeSantis was filed by the Muslim Legal Defense Fund and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The situations CAIR faces in Florida and Texas are similar to the discrimination the NAACP faced in Southern states during the Civil Rights Movement, said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of CAIR.

The governors “are doing all this because of who CAIR is, because of the success CAIR has had over the past 31 years,” he said. “Our organization has successfully defended free speech and religious freedom and advocated for justice for all people here and abroad, and it is our advocacy, in particular for the Palestinian people, for a just American foreign policy toward Palestine, that has attracted the ire of Greg Abbott, Ron DeSantis and other anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian Israel-first politicians in recent years.”