DeSantis Signs Bill Giving Florida the Power To Designate Domestic Terrorist Organizations

Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, has signed legislation into law that gives the state government the authority to designate groups as domestic terrorist organizations, weeks after his effort to unilaterally label one of America’s most influential Muslim advocacy associations, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, as a terrorist organization was blocked. On Monday, Mr. DeSantis wrote on X, “To uphold the rule of law, our state must operate under one legal system, the Constitution must remain the law of the land, and we must defend our institutions from those who would harm us—especially terrorist organizations that seek to infiltrate and subvert our education system.”“[House Bill] 1471 reinforces these principles in Florida, and I was proud to sign it into law today,” he said. Earlier this year, Mr. DeSantis signed an executive order that designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations a terrorist organization. Mr. DeSantis signed an executive order in December, which directed Florida agencies to deny privileges or resources to anyone “providing material support,” including “expert advice or assistance,” to the groups. He said that CAIR had links to extremists. However, a federal judge, Mark Walker, blocked that order, finding that the governor did not have the unilateral authority to designate a terrorist organization. Under HB 1471, Florida’s chief of domestic security could recommend that an organization be labeled a terrorist group. The offical would have find that the group was engaged in terrorist activity under Florida law, which it describes as efforts to “intimidate, injure, or coerce a civilian population; Influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or Affect the conduct of government through destruction of property, assassination, murder, kidnapping, or aircraft piracy.”The recommendation would have to be approved by the Florida Cabinet, which includes the agriculture commissioner, the chief financial officer, and the attorney general, and the governor. An organization that is designated as a terrorist group will have the opportunity to challenge the designation within 30 days. The law prevents state funds from going to schools that have affiliations to foreign or domestic terrorist organizationsm, and requires the expulsion of students accused of supporting those groups.Mr. DeSantis told reporters on Monday that state officials were “working already” to designate CAIR as a terrorist organization.“You also have antifa that needs to be taken care of,” he said. “Expect us to be very zealous and robust in how we approach dealing with these groups.”CAIR has not been designated as a terrorist organization by the federal government. However, several watchdog groups have alleged it has ties to terrorist organizations, which the group strongly denies. Civil liberties advocates have raised concerns that the law will give the state government the power to target groups that engage in disfavored speech. The executive director of the ACLU of Florida, Bacardi Jackson, said in a statement that the law would “create a system where the government can unilaterally label individuals and organizations as ‘domestic terrorists’ and trigger sweeping consequences without meaningful standards, transparency, or constitutional guardrails.”“That kind of authority is dangerous in a democracy because it allows the government to attach one of the most stigmatizing labels imaginable to individuals and organizations while bypassing constitutional safeguards and procedural protections,” she said. A Florida state representative who supports the House version of the bill, Susan Valdes, told the Florida Phoenix in February that the legislation provides some protection as it “ensures that no sitting individual can unilaterally label a group of terrorists without the concurrence of other independently elected statewide officials.”“Florida can protect free expression while still drawing a bright line when campus disruption and promotion of terrorist organizations cross into that terrorist advocacy,” she said. Florida is not the only state taking aim at CAIR. In November, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order designating the group a terrorist organization. There is a pending lawsuit challenging that order.

DeSantis Signs Bill Giving Florida the Power To Designate Domestic Terrorist Organizations

DeSantis Signs Bill Giving Florida the Power To Designate Domestic Terrorist Organizations

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