The Council on American-Islamic Relations has suspended its operations in Florida. The Muslim civil rights group says it had no choice.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Cabinet voted on September 29 to designate CAIR and its Florida chapter as domestic terrorist organizations. On Wednesday, a federal judge refused to stop that designation while the case goes on. It took effect Thursday.

Nobody at CAIR has been charged in this process. That's how the law was built.

Label first, no trial

DeSantis tried this once already. In December, he issued an executive order calling CAIR a terrorist organization. A federal judge blocked that order in March.

Republicans already had a second route moving. The House first passed HB 1471 the day before that ruling. Soon after it, the Legislature finished the bill and DeSantis signed it. It gave five state officials the power to designate groups operating in the United States as terrorists, the Florida Phoenix reports, "without filing any legal charges or submitting their case to a jury."

Those five are the governor, the three members of the state Cabinet and the head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Being designated has real effects. State agencies, local governments and school districts can't spend state money to support a designated group. Public schools can't keep programs on campus that "promote" one. And the law reaches students directly: colleges must report information about a student on a visa who "promotes" a designated group, and students found to have promoted one must be immediately expelled. The law defines "promote" as backing a group's violence in a way that also amounts to a threat, a disruption or material support.

DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier say CAIR is a front for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR's lawyers strongly deny that. "Great win by our Solicitor General's office and for the people of Florida!" Uthmeier wrote after the ruling.

The way to prove that accusation in America is a charge, a court and a jury. This law skips the charge and the jury. The only court comes afterward, if the group sues within 30 days.

What the ruling did and didn't do

Federal Judge Allen Winsor said CAIR is unlikely to succeed at this stage on its claims that the law violates due process and the First Amendment. He did give one narrow protection: Florida prosecutors can't enforce the law against CAIR, its employees or others over providing legal services to the groups.

This isn't over. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center are handling the challenge, and they're appealing.

"Today's decision upholds state officials' sweeping power to punish American organizations they brand as 'terrorist,' without due process and in violation of the First Amendment," said Ashley Gorski of the ACLU's National Security Project.

Who gets hurt

CAIR says it offers free legal help to Floridians, including people facing discrimination by the government or at work, and people dealing with the immigration system. It says the effect on the communities it serves will be "immense."

Those are Florida residents who had a place to go last week. They don't now.

And think about what this power can do next. Today it's aimed at a Muslim group. But the law gives five officials a way to brand groups operating in the United States, and those seats change hands. In January, the governor's seat goes to Byron Donalds.

Florida isn't alone. In Texas, Greg Abbott did something similar to CAIR, and Texas Monthly found that twelve of his thirteen points carried details from a report by a fellow at an anti-Muslim think tank. It's part of a wider campaign: Randy Fine asked where the "moderate Muslims" in our political system are, when four of them serve in the House with him.

What it adds up to

Days after a federal judge blocked Ron DeSantis's executive order against CAIR, Florida Republicans finished passing a law letting five state officials label groups as terrorists with no charges and no jury. The officials then used it on CAIR. A federal judge let the designation take effect on Thursday, and CAIR and its Florida chapter say they have been forced to stop their work in the state, including free legal help. The ACLU is appealing.

Source

CAIR ends operations in Florida as domestic terrorist designation takes effect — Florida Phoenix