Florida Senate Advances Bill To Let State Leaders Designate Groups as Terrorists After Federal Judge Blocks Effort by DeSantis

Lawmakers in Florida are seeking to give the state’s executive branch the authority to label groups as terrorist organizations after a federal judge temporarily blocked Governor Ron DeSantis from designating one of America’s most influential Muslim advocacy associations, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, as a terrorist organization. Florida’s state Senate passed a bill on Thursday that would grant the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s head of domestic security the power to decide that a group is a terrorist organization. The designation would have to be approved by the Florida Cabinet. Lawmakers are considering several other terrorism-related bills as well. The vote came a day after a federal district court judge, Mark Walker, issued a temporary injunction blocking Mr. DeSantis’s executive order designating CAIR 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. His order came weeks after Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a similar declaration. A judge has not yet ruled on Mr. Abbott’s order. Though the federal government has never designated CAIR a terrorist group and it has not been sanctioned by the Treasury or State departments, CAIR has been labeled by some watchdogs as a “terrorist front group” with ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. That accusation was based on CAIR being named an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism‑financing prosecution case in American history. In 2007, prosecutors against the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation argued that some of CAIR’s founders had historical ties to the Palestine Committee, a Muslim Brotherhood-backed group supporting Hamas from the United States. No leader from CAIR was named in the case, but the FBI suspended formal outreach to the organization.In 2014, the United Arab Emirates listed CAIR, as well as dozens of other groups, many with Western backing, as terror organizations for its supposed ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR vehemently denies it.In Florida, several advocacy organizations raised First Amendment objections to Mr. DeSantis’s targeting the organization over its speech and advocacy. CAIR said that after being labeled a terrorist organization, other groups refused to work with it, alleging in one instance that a Florida-based company backed out of an agreement to produce a podcast. In his ruling this week, the judge found that Mr. DeSantis lacked the authority to “unilaterally designate” CAIR a terrorist organization in a “non-emergency situation.” Judge Walker said the First Amendment “bars the Governor from continuing the troubling trend of using an executive office to make a political statement at the expense of others’ constitutional rights.”The judge’s order focused not so much on complaints of censorship, but on what he said was Mr. DeSantis’s “coercion of third parties to cut ties with Plaintiff.” The judge noted that the South Florida Muslim Federation “dissociated” CAIR Florida from a conference in January. The executive director of CAIR, Nihad Awad, celebrated the court’s decision, saying in a statement, “Amid widespread attempts by politicians to undermine our democracy, including attacks on free speech, religious freedom, immigrant rights, and due process, this federal court ruling serves as a reminder that the Constitution still matters.”Mr. DeSantis’s order will be blocked while the lawsuit continues. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Florida are working to pass legislation that would strip funding to colleges and universities that “advocate for” groups that the state labels terrorist organizations and force expulsion of students who promote the groups. Those who work for such organizations could face felony charges. Another bill would prevent legislative candidates from receiving “anything of value” from groups that the state labeled as foreign terrorist organizations. Civil rights organizations have expressed concerns that the legislation does not provide clear enough definitions of terrorism and that it could be used to target groups engaged in activism or speech that the state government does not like. But supporters say the state will rely on an existing definition of terrorism that matches the federal government’s criteria. A Florida state representative who supports the House version of the bill, Susan Valdes, told the Florida Phoenix last month 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. Representatives for Mr. DeSantis did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. However, the communications director for Mr. DeSantis, Alex Lanfranconi, appeared to take a potshot at Judge Walker’s opinion, writing on X after the ruling, “Judicial ethics bars a federal district judge from continuing the troubling trend of using his judicial office to make a political statement at the expense of a party before him.”

Florida Senate Advances Bill To Let State Leaders Designate Groups as Terrorists After Federal Judge Blocks Effort by DeSantis

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