CAIR calls Florida terrorism designation ‘unconstitutional’

Dec. 16 (UPI) — The Council on American-Islamic Relations says Florida’s recent designation of its local chapter as a terrorist organization is “blatantly unconstitutional” in a federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday.

The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Northern Florida in Tallahassee lists the plaintiffs as the Washington-based CAIR-Foundation Inc. and CAIR-Florida Inc. and names Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the defendant.

“No politician has the right to shred the Constitution or upend our entire legal system by unilaterally declaring an American organization he dislikes a criminal actor and then ordering punishments for that group and its supporters, all without any due process and any legal authority,” CAIR Litigation Director Lena Masri said in a news release.

“This is still America, where due process, free speech and other rights guaranteed by the Constitution matter … to engage in activism without fear of illegal government retaliation,” Masri added.

CAIR and CAIR-Florida accuse DeSantis of violating the Constitution and exceeding his legal authority when he designated as terrorist organizations CAIR-Florida and the Muslim Brotherhood in a proclamation issued on Dec. 8.

“The order directs Florida’s executive and cabinet agencies, as well as counties and municipalities, to deny local or state contracts, employment, funding, benefits and privileges to CAIR and anyone known to provide ‘material support’ to CAIR, including ‘expert advice or assistance,'” CAIR officials said.

The executive order also directs the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to “pursue unspecified ‘measures’ against unspecified CAIR,” CAIR said.

CAIR also accuses DeSantis of usurping federal authority to designate U.S. organizations as terrorist groups and depriving them of due process rights by “ordering immediate punitive, discriminatory action against CAIR and its supporters.”

CAIR says DeSantis violated CAIR and CAIR-Florida members’ First Amendment rights to free speech and accuses him of retaliating against both for “speech he finds objectionable.”

The Muslim Brotherhood filed a separate lawsuit against DeSantis in response to his Dec. 8 executive order designating it and CAIR as terrorist organizations.

DeSantis on Dec. 9 said he welcomes that lawsuit and the one eventually filed by CAIR on Tuesday because the lawsuits give the state discovery rights to further investigate both organizations.

“They have every right to sue and then we’re going to have the right to get the information we need to make sure,” DeSantis told media on Dec. 9.

In his Dec. 8 order, DeSantis, a Republican, said the U.S. government designated CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator “in the largest terrorism-financing case in American history” and tied CAIR to terrorist organizations.

He also said the “Muslim Brotherhood’s Islamist ideology is irreconcilable with foundational American principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, especially including the right to religious freedom and the equal protection of the laws.”

The United Arab Emirates in 2014 similarly designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Nov. 18 designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations.