Key facts
- CAIR said a note on its Florida website announced the suspension of operations in the state.
- The judge said Florida's measure was novel and perhaps unprecedented but CAIR did not show the designation was criminal punishment.
- The law lets Florida's governor, cabinet and chief of domestic security designate groups and expel students who promote them.
- DeSantis wrote "Good win" on X after the ruling.
- PEN America and the American Civil Liberties Union condemned the law.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations suspended operations in Florida after a federal judge declined to reverse Florida officials' "terrorist" designation of the group, according to a note on CAIR-Florida's website and state officials. CAIR said it will appeal the ruling.
The judge said Florida's measure was "novel — and perhaps unprecedented," but that CAIR did not show the designation amounted to a form of criminal punishment.
Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the law in April. It empowers Florida's chief of domestic security, the governor and the cabinet to designate any organization they determine engages in extremist acts as a "terrorist organization." After a designation, a group can be forcibly dissolved and face a freeze on state funding, and students shall be expelled if they "promoted" a domestic or foreign "terrorist organization," according to the legislation.
"We have suspended our operations in Florida because of Governor DeSantis and other state officials' baseless and unconstitutional enforcement of the state's unprecedented new 'domestic terrorist organization' laws against us," the note on CAIR-Florida's website said.
DeSantis and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier welcomed the ruling. "Good win," DeSantis wrote on X.
PEN America and the American Civil Liberties Union condemned the law. PEN America said it "could chill free speech by placing unprecedented pressure on individuals to avoid speaking, organizing, or engaging with certain viewpoints." DeSantis described the law as a framework to combat extremism and bring accountability to the education system.
CAIR documents hate against Muslim Americans and blames a Republican-led federal crackdown on immigration and pro-Palestinian protests for a rise in Islamophobia. The Republican Party lost its majorities in both houses of Congress in the midterm elections, the report said.