The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) stopped operating in Florida this week, citing fallout from a new state law that designated the group as a domestic terrorist organization.
On Nov. 5, a bright orange notice posted to the front door of the nonprofit’s state headquarters in Tampa reads: “We have suspended our operations in Florida because of Governor Ron DeSantis and other state officials' baseless and unconstitutional enforcement of the state's new domestic terrorist organizations laws against us."
The statement, which is the only item currently on CAIR's website, continues, "The ACLU, SPLC, and their partners are representing us in a federal lawsuit challenging this designation on First Amendment and due process grounds.”
CAIR Florida spokespeople also pointed WUSF to this statement, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) website for updates on the ongoing legal battle over the new Florida law, HB 1471, that allowed Gov. Ron DeSantis and his cabinet to designate certain groups as "domestic terrorist organizations," effectively defunding and dissolving them.
The law, signed by DeSantis in April, backed an executive order that designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations operating in Florida.
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Both the governor's order and the new state law have faced legal challenges from CAIR and other civil rights groups.
As the AP reports, a federal judge ultimately blocked the governor's order designating CAIR as a terrorist organization back in March, calling it "a political statement at the expense of others' constitutional rights."
In CAIR's latest lawsuit against the state — represented by the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center and Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP — the Muslim civil rights organization aims to prove that the state is using its authority to "single out and punish groups — including nonprofits engaged in First Amendment-protected advocacy — that officials unilaterally decide are criminals and security threats," according to a legal summary.
Following a Wednesday night ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida that denied their request to reverse Florida officials' "terrorist" designation, CAIR and CAIR-Florida have plans to appeal, according to a SPLC press release.
Despite ongoing legal action, CAIR must indefinitely cease operations.
"Still, the designation takes effect today, Nov. 5. As a result, CAIR and CAIR-Florida are forced to shut down their advocacy and operations in the state," according to the press release.
In the initial complaint filed with the Oct. 1 lawsuit, CAIR and CAIR Florida
said it's the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the country with a mission "to help people understand Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice and empower American Muslims."
The group said the state has never indicted or convicted the nonprofit under any criminal law, including an act of terrorism.
"If the state tried, it would fail. The reason is simple: neither CAIR nor CAIR-Florida is engaged in terrorist activity, and the state would be unable to prove its case in a court of law."
