The Council on American-Islamic Relations and its Florida chapter have stopped operating in the state after Florida's designation of the groups as domestic terrorist organizations took effect Thursday, Nov. 5.
The designation was approved in September by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Cabinet under House Bill 1471, a law DeSantis signed this year that created a state process for naming domestic terrorist organizations. The state designated the Muslim Brotherhood and Antifa through the same process.
What the designation does
Under the law, the executive director of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, who is appointed by the governor, can propose a designation with written findings, and the Cabinet approves or rejects it.
Once a group is designated, state and local agencies cannot spend public money to support it, public schools, colleges and universities cannot use public resources to promote it, and criminal penalties tied to the group can be enhanced, according to a summary of the law by WKMG News 6.
Becoming a member of a designated group or giving it material support can be charged as terrorism-related crimes.
The court fight
CAIR and CAIR-Florida, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Southern Poverty Law Center and other lawyers, sued in October, arguing the law and the designation violate free speech and due process protections.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor of the Northern District of Florida declined this week to put the designation on hold, finding the groups had not shown they were likely to succeed on their constitutional claims at this stage. He did grant limited relief, finding the state likely could not penalize anyone for providing the groups with legal services. The ruling does not decide the case.
The groups say they will appeal.
