As previously reported, last December Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an Executive Order declaring CAIR to be a foreign terrorist organization and barring it and anyone providing material support or resources to it from receiving state contracts or state benefits. In CAIR-Foundation, Inc. v. DeSantis, (ND FL, March 4, 2026), a Florida federal district court held that the Executive Order violates CAIR's free speech rights. The court said in part:
Plaintiff contends that preliminary injunctive relief is necessary to prevent future harm and to remedy ongoing harm to its First Amendment right to free speech due to Defendant’s coercion of third parties to suppress its speech. As evidence of the coercive nature of Defendant’s EO, Plaintiff points to a Florida-based production company that withdrew from a proposed podcast agreement to launch Plaintiff’s civil rights podcast, citing its concerns about the EO, and notes that the company would reconsider its withdrawal from the agreement in the event the EO was found to be unlawful....
A government official “cannot do indirectly what [he] is barred from doing directly: . . . coerce a private party to punish or suppress disfavored speech on [his] behalf.”
Defendant’s EO threatens those who platform, collaborate with, or otherwise provide support to Plaintiff....
... [T]he production company is an intermediary intending to platform Plaintiff’s speech. By threatening the production company— indeed, by broadly threatening anyone who wishes to do business in Florida— Defendant stifles Plaintiff’s speech....
It should be lost on no one that Defendant’s EO targets one of America’s largest Muslim civil rights organization for indirect suppression of speech. But, as we all know, it is easy for those in power to target minority groups with little pushback. Sadly, history teaches that it is often minority religious groups who find themselves in the crosshairs. And here, the Muslim community presents an especially easy target for Defendant, inasmuch as they make up less than 1% of Florida’s population...
CAIR issued a press release announcing the decision.
