A day after Gov. Ron DeSantis designated one of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups in the U.S. a “foreign terrorist organization,” Florida’s governor said he welcomes being sued over the move.
The directive against the Council on American-Islamic Relations came in an executive order DeSantis posted on the social media site X. It also gives the same label to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Neither CAIR nor the Muslim Brotherhood is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
But DeSantis hinted during a news conference Tuesday that that could soon change.
“This is something that has been a long time coming. I know the federal government is now working in a similar direction. The Legislature is working on statutory laws that are going to impact this area,” DeSantis said. “So I’d stay tuned there.”
DeSantis’ designation followed a similar step by Texas last month.
In an emailed statement, CAIR and its Florida chapter said the organization plans to sue DeSantis in response to what it called an “unconstitutional” and “defamatory” proclamation.
Founded in 1994, CAIR has 25 chapters around the country.
DeSantis’ 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.
“There’s no question a lot of it is financial,” DeSantis said of his reasoning. “The money is really significant.”
He said that’s why he welcomes CAIR’s lawsuit, because it would allow the state to dig further into their financial records as part of the discovery process.
“I welcome the lawsuit, because what will happen is that will give the state of Florida discovery rights to be able to subpoena the bank records,” DeSantis said. “They have every right to sue, and then we’re going to have a right to get the information that we need.”
DeSantis said Florida’s attorney general is “ready, willing and able to be fighting on this.”
CAIR last month asked a federal judge to strike down Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s proclamation, saying in a lawsuit that it was “not only contrary to the United States Constitution, but finds no support in any Texas law.”
The Muslim Brotherhood was established in Egypt nearly a century ago and has branches around the world. Its leaders say it renounced violence decades ago and seeks to set up Islamic rule through elections and other peaceful means. Critics, including autocratic governments across the Middle East region, view it as a threat.