Share and Follow
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily halted the enforcement of an executive order from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that labeled two Muslim organizations as foreign terrorist groups. This decision was handed down on Wednesday.
In issuing a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker emphasized that the First Amendment prevents the governor from leveraging his executive role to make political statements that infringe upon others’ constitutional rights.
The executive order specifically targeted the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood. As of Wednesday evening, Governor DeSantis’s office had not responded to requests for comments regarding the judge’s ruling.
CAIR, along with other civil rights organizations, filed a lawsuit against DeSantis last December, shortly after the order’s issuance. With over 20 chapters nationwide, CAIR engages in legal advocacy, educational outreach, and other initiatives. The lawsuit argues that the executive order is both unlawful and unconstitutional, contending that DeSantis overstepped by infringing upon the federal government’s exclusive right to designate terrorist entities.
For the time being, the enforcement of the executive order is suspended, pending the progression of the lawsuit.
“The question before this Court is whether the Governor can, in a non-emergency situation, unilaterally designate one of the largest Muslim civil rights groups in America as a ‘terrorist organization’ and withhold government benefits from anyone providing material support or resources to the group,” Walker wrote.
Anti-Muslim bias has persisted in different forms since Sept. 11, 2001, and there has been a rise in Islamophobia during more than two years of war in Gaza.
CAIR said in the Florida lawsuit that it has always condemned terrorism and violence. The lawsuit alleges DeSantis targeted the group for defending the free speech rights of people in cases where state officials and officials elsewhere tried to punish or silence those who expressed support for Palestinian human rights.
The executive order also gives the same “foreign terrorist” label to the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-Arab Islamist political movement. President Donald Trump in January issued an executive order that designates three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations.
The governor’s order instructs Florida agencies to prevent the two groups and those who have provided them material support from receiving contracts, employment and funds from a state executive or cabinet agency.
Florida has an estimated 500,000 Muslim residents, according to CAIR.