Judge Blocks DeSantis Order on CAIR as Terrorist Group

A federal judge in Tallahassee on Wednesday temporarily blocked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis from enforcing an executive order that designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations under state authority.

U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker issued the preliminary injunction in response to a lawsuit filed by CAIR and other civil rights groups shortly after DeSantis signed the order in December. The ruling halts provisions that directed state agencies to deny contracts, employment, funding, or other benefits to the designated groups and any individuals or entities providing them material support. Walker's 30-page order concluded that the measure violated the First Amendment by coercing third parties into severing ties with CAIR, effectively stifling protected speech without due process.

The executive order, titled "Protecting Floridians from Radical Islamic Terrorist Organizations," argued that CAIR had ties to extremist groups including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-Arab Islamist movement. It instructed executive and cabinet agencies, as well as regulated entities and local governments, to withhold state...