Judge Rebukes Governor DeSantis Over Controversial Executive Order, Citing Unconstitutional Coercion

A federal judge has halted Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis from implementing his executive order targeting the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The judge determined that labeling the organization as a “terrorist organization” infringes upon the First Amendment and is emblematic of unconstitutional coercion.

In a detailed 30-page ruling issued on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker granted a preliminary injunction. He specified that Governor DeSantis and his officials must refrain from enforcing the executive directive against CAIR.

Judge Walker posed a critical question: whether the Governor, without an emergency, can unilaterally categorize a major Muslim civil rights organization in the U.S. as a “terrorist organization” and deny governmental support to anyone aiding the group. Walker concluded that this is not permissible, stating, “The First Amendment prevents the Governor from leveraging his office for political gains at the cost of constitutional rights.”

Judge Walker, appointed by Barack Obama and frequently at odds with DeSantis in legal matters, criticized the governor for “acting like a bully.”

“In this situation, the defendant chooses to act like a bully, using his position as a platform,” the judge remarked. He acknowledged that while the Governor can express his views and attempt to sway public opinion, the Supreme Court distinguishes between acceptable persuasion and unconstitutional coercion. Walker highlighted that DeSantis has overstepped this boundary, prioritizing “political grandstanding over the First Amendment.”

“Political grandstanding does not an emergency make. Defendant’s EO amounts to unconstitutional First Amendment coercion and Defendant has provided nothing to overcome the presumption of unconstitutionality,” the judge said.

CAIR, which states that its mission is to “protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims,” sued in December over the designation. The court filing claimed that executive order 25-244, “Protecting Floridians from Radical Islamic Terrorist Organizations,” was a “punitive, discriminatory action” and that the state governor “usurped the exclusive authority of the federal government to identify and designate terrorist organizations by baselessly declaring CAIR a terrorist organization.”

In the order, DeSantis made like Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and declared that CAIR’s “ties to Islamic extremist groups,” mentioning Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood by name, made it, and those who provide the organization with “material support” or “expert advice or assistance,” ineligible for “any contract, employment, funds, or other benefit or privilege from such Executive or Cabinet Agency or any entity regulated by such Executive or Cabinet Agency or from any County or Municipality of the State.”

Ultimately, Walker found the plaintiff had standing to sue over the order’s “coercion of third parties to cut ties” with CAIR, a form of “indirect censorship” and a prior restraint. Citing a “Florida-based production company[‘s] withdr[awal] from an agreement to produce a podcast with Plaintiff because of the EO,” the judge said the “speech injury is concrete and neither speculative nor conjectural” and that an injunction was “substantially likely” to “redress” that harm.

“Defendant offers no evidence to show how cutting off benefits to third parties who engage with Plaintiff in any way furthers an interest in protecting public health and safety,” Walker wrote. “By threatening the production company—indeed, by broadly threatening anyone who wishes to do business in Florida—Defendant stifles Plaintiff’s speech.”

In a parting shot buried in a footnote, the judge said it “pains” him to “have to point out that not all Muslims are terrorists.”

“It should be lost on no one that Defendant’s EO targets one of America’s largest Muslim civil rights organization for indirect suppression of speech. But, as we all know, it is easy for those in power to target minority groups with little pushback. Sadly, history teaches that it is often minority religious groups who find themselves in the crosshairs. And here, the Muslim community presents an especially easy target for Defendant, inasmuch as they make up less than 1% of Florida’s population,” the order said.

While DeSantis’ office didn’t immediately react to the adverse ruling, and with the possibility of an appeal, CAIR litigation director and general counsel Lena Masri and CAIR-Florida executive director Hiba Rahim said enforcement of DeSantis’ “lawless proclamation” has been rightly blocked.

“[N]o governor has the right to violate the Constitution by unilaterally declaring an American organization whose speech he dislikes a ‘terrorist’ group and then punish them and their supporters, all without due process,” the statement said. “The right to free speech is one of the Constitution’s most fundamental guarantees. CAIR and CAIR-Florida will, God willing, continue to stand as a shield for the American Muslim community and defend free speech, religious freedom and due process for everyone in our nation.”