In April 2026, the Florida legislature passed a law giving Florida officials the power to treat certain groups as domestic terrorist organizations.
Last Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis added the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to that list as the bill went into effect.
The ACLU of Florida and the Southern Poverty Law Center immediately filed a federal lawsuit challenging what they called a "baseless designation."
And on Friday, the organizations filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
According to a statement from SPLC, "Without court intervention, CAIR and CAIR Florida are in imminent danger of being forced to completely shut down their civil rights advocacy work in Florida by July 8, 2026."
"We have pursued justice for all people, including American Muslims impacted by hate," CAIR's national headquarters wrote in a statement released through the ACLU. "This is exactly why Gov. DeSantis has repeatedly targeted our organization."
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Bobby Block is executive director of the Tallahassee-based First Amendment Foundation, which writes legal referrals, runs free speech campaigns and educates Floridians on open government laws.
He called the designation an unprecedented, highly partisan power grab that will stifle free speech.
"We've never created a way to designate domestic terrorists because of two main reasons," Block said. "One is due process and two is the First Amendment, which is exactly what we have here. It does all of this outside of a courtroom."
Block added that the bill — H.B. 1471 — is shrouded in undemocratic secrecy.
A federal judge previously blocked a 2025 executive order that saw DeSantis unilaterally designate CAIR, Antifa and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations. Block labeled both attempts as unconstitutional.
"Lives could be ruined, reputations could be destroyed, all because of a law that should have never been put on the books in the first place," he said.
Block also questioned why participants in the Jan. 6 insurrection hadn't suffered the same fate.
CAIR's Florida chapter is based in Temple Terrace.
They defend Florida Muslims from religious discrimination, advocates for workplace accommodations and host youth leadership workshops.
In Nov. 2023, CAIR-FL filed a lawsuit against the State University System after they called for the University of South Florida's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter to disband.
"It's a huge mistake labeling those groups as terrorist sympathizers," their lead attorney, Omar Saleh, said at the time. "It makes them a target across the nation."
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