A federal judge denied an emergency request from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and its Florida chapter on Tuesday to block being designated as domestic terrorist organizations under Florida law.
Mark Walker, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, ruled on Oct. 6 that the designations do not take effect until Nov. 5, allowing time to hear the state’s arguments before deciding whether to intervene.
Walker scheduled an Oct. 8 conference to arrange further proceedings.
CAIR and CAIR-Florida sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, and other state officials on Oct. 1 after the governor and state Cabinet approved the terror designations on Sept. 29.
The lawsuit challenges HB 1471, which authorizes Florida officials to designate domestic terrorist organizations. The groups argue that the law violates their constitutional rights and conflicts with federal law. (JNS sought comment from the governor’s office.)
CAIR claimed that it doesn’t engage in terror activity and that the designation would halt its operations in Florida and expose people providing it with support to criminal penalties.
The group blamed Israel for being attacked on Oct. 7 and was initially an advisor on the Biden administration’s national strategy on Jew-hatred, before the White House removed it.
