An American Muslim group sues Florida governor Ron DeSantis designated it a “foreign terrorist organization” and accused the right-wing politician of violating his right to free speech on the Palestinian issue.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its Florida chapter filed a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday seeking to quash a state statute blacklisting the group.

“Executive Order (EO) determines no criminal charges or conviction, did not rely on any federal designation, and inaccurately invoked statutory authority,” the lawsuit states.

“It is based on political rhetoric and imposes broad legal consequences on domestic civil rights organizations for its views and assertions.”

DeSantis issued the order last week, classifying the group as a “terrorist” organization along with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The lawsuit was filed amid a surge in Islamophobia and right-wing calls to target American Muslim groups, a move CAIR said was aimed at silencing speech in support of Palestinian human rights.

Tuesday’s lawsuit states that CAIR helped file the legal challenge DeSantis’ ban Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

“CAIR’s advocacy on Palestine-related issues, including its representation of SJP chapters and opposition to state censorship of pro-Palestinian speech, formed an important part of the factual background for Defendant DeSantis’s issuance of the executive order,” it said.

CAIR condemns lack of due process

Last week, DeSantis said he “welcomed” CAIR’s legal action, saying it would give the state “discovery powers” to “subpoena” the group’s bank records.

CAIR’s attorneys cited that response in the lawsuit, arguing it showed the governor’s pre-existing bias against the organization.

“These contemporaneous statements confirm that the purpose of the Executive Order is to aggravate and impede Plaintiffs’ claims rather than to serve any legitimate national interest,” it wrote.

The lawsuit also emphasizes that only the U.S. secretary of state has the authority to designate an organization as a “foreign terrorist organization,” saying DeSantis’ order is “preempted” by federal law.

It also noted that CAIR lacked an avenue to contest or review the designation. “The executive order is self-executing, indefinite, and issued without procedural safeguards,” it said.

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy director of CAIR, said the group hopes the lawsuit will succeed because DeSantis’ actions are “blatantly unconstitutional.”

“If you want to punish an organization for wrongdoing, you find evidence that they did something wrong, bring that evidence to a court, have due process, and then have a judge decide what the consequences are,” Mitchell told Al Jazeera.

“Governor DeSantis skipped the entire process because he knew Nursing had done nothing wrong.”

Mitchell went on to say that DeSantis should reflect on his mistakes.

“He did something wrong,” he said.

“Ron DeSantis needs to explain his ‘Israel first’ policies, his attacks on the First Amendment and his support for Israel. Genocide in Gaza. He is the one who needs to take responsibility for his actions, not CAIR. “

Texas crackdown

DeSantis’ appointment comes after another Republican governor issued a similar decree, Greg Abbott In Texas, CAIR is also challenging it in court.

On Tuesday, Sen. John Cornyn, who represents Texas, said he would push to revoke CAIR’s tax-exempt status and made baseless accusations that the group was pushing to impose Islamic law in the country.

“CAIR is a militant group of terrorist sympathizers with a long history of undermining American values ​​and seeking to unconstitutionally impose Sharia law on Texas,” Cornyn told Fox News.

Islamic law has no legal standing in federal or state courts anywhere in the United States.

But right-wing advocates have been promoting unfounded fears about this for years as they demonize Muslim communities.

Over the past two decades, state and federal lawmakers have pushed to pass measures against Islamic law that critics say are unnecessary and only serve to fuel prejudice against Muslims.

CAIR’s Mitchell dismissed Cornyn’s threat, stressing that CAIR is a law-abiding organization and has no legal basis to target its tax status.

“If John Cornyn truly believes that one percent of the U.S. population, American Muslims, are trying to — or are on the verge of to some extent — imposing Islamic law on 350 million people, he’s crazy,” Mitchell said.

“It’s more likely that he spreads this again conspiracy theory for political gain. “