Florida's Terrorist Label on CAIR Takes Effect After a Federal Judge Mostly Refused to Block It. CAIR-Florida Has Shut Its Doors
Florida's designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and its Florida chapter as 'domestic terrorist organizations' took effect Thursday. A day earlier, Chief U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor denied almost all of the groups' emergency request. He blocked one piece: prosecutors can't treat legal help for CAIR as a crime. He also wrote that the question in front of him was not whether CAIR is in fact a terrorist group. CAIR-Florida says it has suspended its operations in the state.
The Overview
The facts, straight
Where things stand. As of Thursday, Nov. 5, Florida officially treats the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its Florida chapter, CAIR-Florida, as "domestic terrorist organizations" under state law. CAIR-Florida says it has shut down. "We have suspended our operations in Florida because of Governor DeSantis and other state officials' baseless and unconstitutional enforcement of the state's unprecedented new 'domestic terrorist organization' laws against us," the group says on its website. The Tallahassee Democrat reported the same words on a sign in the window of its Temple Terrace office.
Yes, a judge ruled. No, he didn't settle whether the law is constitutional. Some posts on X say a federal court "upheld" the law. Some news reports said Wednesday that there was no ruling yet. The court record shows neither is quite right. In an order dated and filed Wednesday, Nov. 4, Chief U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor in Tallahassee denied almost all of the groups' request for a preliminary injunction. He did block one piece. State prosecutors can't use the law's "material support" crime against CAIR, its employees, or anyone else "based on the provision of legal services" to the groups. That protection kicks in once the groups post a $1,000 bond. This is an early-stage ruling, not a final judgment. As of early Thursday afternoon Eastern, the public docket on CourtListener showed no appeal and no later filings.
The law. HB 1471, which took effect July 1, lets Florida's Chief of Domestic Security, Larry Keefe, label a group a domestic terrorist organization if he finds it is "engaging in terrorist activity" that is "an ongoing threat to the security of this state or the United States" (Fla. Stat. 943.03102; bill). The governor and the three-member Cabinet then approve or reject the label by majority vote. Once a label takes effect:
- State agencies, local governments and public school districts can't fund the group, contract with it, or take its money.
- Anyone who "knowingly provides material support or resources" to the group commits a first-degree felony. Under the law, "material support" includes money, services, "expert advice or assistance" and "personnel." Medicine and religious materials are excluded.
- The group can be dissolved as a Florida nonprofit, the judge noted.
How it got here. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on July 1 that the state would label CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood and antifa as terrorist groups (release). On Sept. 29, DeSantis and the Cabinet (Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson) approved the designation. The state's law enforcement agency published it on Oct. 6. That notice says the designation "is effective 30 days after the publication of this notice," which landed on Nov. 5. This is the state's second try. A federal judge blocked DeSantis's December 2025 executive order against CAIR in March, and the state's appeal of that ruling is still pending. The groups' first lawsuit against the new law was thrown out on Oct. 1 for lack of standing, because no designation existed yet. They filed this one the same day.
The judge switch. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, who blocked the executive order, first had this case. On Oct. 6 he turned down the groups' request for an immediate temporary restraining order, noting the label wouldn't take effect until Nov. 5 (ECF 28). On Oct. 15 he stepped aside (ECF 56). The state had argued he should be disqualified. Walker called those arguments "meritless and nothing but rank judge shopping," but said it made no sense to keep the case while a federal appeals court weighs the disqualification question in the earlier case. The case went to Judge Robert Hinkle and then, a day later, to Winsor, who heard arguments on Oct. 28.
What the Left Says
The progressive and Democratic case
CAIR, CAIR-Florida and their lawyers, from the ACLU, the ACLU of Florida and the Southern Poverty Law Center among others, say the state branded two civil rights groups as terrorists without charging them with anything. In their emergency motion, they say the groups "have never been charged with, let alone convicted of, a crime." In an Oct. 28 statement, the ACLU said: "Neither CAIR nor CAIR-Florida is engaged in terrorist activity, and the state would be unable to prove its case to a jury in a court of law."
Their main legal points:
- No real hearing. Five state officials decide, with no neutral judge, no jury and no set standard of proof. The ACLU says its lawyer asked to speak at the Sept. 29 Cabinet meeting, DeSantis spoke over the request, and "the entire vote consideration took thirty seconds."
- It shuts them down in practice. The material-support crime reaches employees, volunteers, banks, vendors and lawyers, the groups say. That's why CAIR-Florida says it suspended operations. The Tallahassee Democrat reported that CAIR's national website told Florida residents not to donate, sign up for mailing lists, "or otherwise engage" with the groups for now.
- It targets speech and faith. The groups also claim the state is punishing them for their advocacy and religious views. The judge said those claims weren't part of this request, so he didn't decide them.
"For decades, we and CAIR-Florida have pursued a shared mission, rooted in faith, to help people understand Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower the millions of American Muslims across the country," CAIR said in an Oct. 3 statement. "It's hard to overstate the stakes here, not only for our clients, but also for other nonprofits and corporations that Florida officials may decide they dislike and want to target in the future," said Hina Shamsi, who directs the ACLU's National Security Project.
Post: ACLU of Florida (@ACLUFL) on X, Sept. 29, 2026.
Where Reality Likely Sits
Radio Purple's analysis
What the judge decided, and what he didn't. Winsor stressed what wasn't in front of him: "the issue at this stage is not whether Plaintiffs are, in fact, terrorist organizations." He also agreed with CAIR on one big point. The program is "novel—and perhaps unprecedented," he wrote, because terrorist labels have historically been a federal job aimed at foreign groups, and "Defendants point to nothing comparable to the regime they defend." But "the Constitution does not prohibit legislation simply because it is novel." He accepted that the label will cause "significant disruption, essentially leading to a closure of all their Florida operations." On the specific legal claims, though, he found the groups were unlikely to win:
- Due process: A designation is "not a criminal conviction on its own," so a trial wasn't required. Notice, written objections and the 30-day window for a state-court appeal were enough. He added that the groups "cannot show the process is inadequate by speculating about what might have fallen short in a state-court appeal they chose not to pursue."
- Free speech and association: The designations "target Plaintiffs' conduct, not their speech," he wrote. The material-support ban "targets material support of DTOs—not their associations." He also read the state's criminal-gang law narrowly: being labeled doesn't automatically make a group a "criminal gang," which the state's 20 elected prosecutors agreed with.
- Lawyers are the exception. Because the law's "expert advice" language covers legal advice, it could make it a crime for lawyers to keep representing the groups. "The State has no meaningful interest in denying Plaintiffs legal counsel," Winsor wrote. He blocked prosecutions on that basis.
- The case's framing hurt CAIR. He rejected the broad challenges to the law partly because the groups' briefs did "not grapple with the standards for facial relief." He wrote that a narrower challenge to the "expert advice" language "perhaps would have been susceptible to" one.
Shared ground. Both sides accept that giving real support to terrorist groups should be a crime, and both cite the same federal material-support case. Neither side claims Florida has charged CAIR or CAIR-Florida with a crime. The state law enforcement agency's own emergency rule already says it won't treat legal help on a designation case as grounds for prosecution. The judge extended that protection to all legal work for the groups, and to the prosecutors the rule doesn't bind. And both sides agree a court should test the label. They disagree on which court and which rules.
What's settled:
- The label is in effect. No court order stops it, and CAIR-Florida says it has suspended operations.
- Lawyers can keep working for CAIR without facing prosecution under the material-support law, once the bond is posted.
- No one has been charged. Neither side says any prosecution has started.
What isn't:
- The merits. This was an early-stage ruling. The groups' retaliation, religious-discrimination and federal-preemption claims haven't been decided. Both sides must file a joint plan for the rest of the case by Nov. 18.
- An appeal. Either side can go to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. As of Thursday afternoon, the public docket showed none. The state's appeal in the earlier executive-order case is set for oral argument.
- Other ways out. Under the statute, a designated group can ask the state to remove the label at any time, and the governor and Cabinet can remove it by majority vote.
For Floridians who have worked with CAIR: the judge's order protects only legal services. Anyone else thinking about giving money, services or volunteer time to the groups is under the material-support law as written. That law requires that a person "knowingly" provide support and know the group has been designated.
What the Right Says
The conservative and Republican case
The state says CAIR isn't what it claims to be, and that the law goes after conduct, not speech. In its court brief, Florida alleges that CAIR "was founded as a front for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood—a role it continues to serve today." It points to the federal Holy Land Foundation terrorism-financing prosecution, in which the Justice Department listed CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator, and says a federal court found "ample evidence" of CAIR's involvement. Those are the state's allegations. CAIR denies them and says it has never been charged with a crime.
The state's legal points:
- It's a label, not a punishment. The designation "is simply an administrative classification that, though it may be a relevant fact in future criminal prosecutions, is not a prosecution itself," the brief says. A crime like material support would still have to be charged and proved in court.
- CAIR got its chance. The groups got written notice, filed written objections, and could have challenged the label in a Leon County state court before it took effect. They chose not to.
- Fighting terrorism is a compelling interest. The state leaned on Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that upheld the federal ban on material support to foreign terrorist groups.
Uthmeier, one of the four officials who approved the designation and the state's top lawyer, posted Thursday morning after the ruling:
Post: Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) on X, Nov. 5, 2026. The order itself is dated Nov. 4. It denied most of CAIR's request and granted one piece. It is a preliminary ruling, not a final decision on whether the law is constitutional.
He followed up around midday:
Post: Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) on X, Nov. 5, 2026.
After the Oct. 28 hearing, Uthmeier wrote that "Florida will not become France on our watch! We will root out the spread of Jihad in our communities." We found no post about the ruling from DeSantis or the Florida Department of Law Enforcement as of early Thursday afternoon Eastern.
Sources & Citations
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida (CourtListener/RECAP), “Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Motion for Preliminary Injunction (ECF 65), CAIR-Foundation, Inc. v. DeSantis, No. 4:26-cv-521-AW-MAF”, November 4, 2026.
- CourtListener (PACER/RECAP), “Docket, CAIR-Foundation, Inc. v. DeSantis, No. 4:26-cv-00521 (N.D. Fla.)”, November 5, 2026.
- CAIR-Foundation and CAIR-Florida, N.D. Fla. (CourtListener/RECAP), “Complaint (ECF 1)”, October 1, 2026.
- CAIR-Foundation and CAIR-Florida, N.D. Fla. (CourtListener/RECAP), “Plaintiffs' Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction (ECF 6)”, October 2, 2026.
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida (CourtListener/RECAP), “Order Denying Temporary Restraining Order (ECF 28)”, October 6, 2026.
- State of Florida defendants, N.D. Fla. (CourtListener/RECAP), “Defendants' Response in Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction (ECF 55)”, October 12, 2026.
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida (CourtListener/RECAP), “Order of Disqualification, Judge Mark E. Walker (ECF 56)”, October 15, 2026.
- CAIR-Foundation and CAIR-Florida, N.D. Fla. (CourtListener/RECAP), “Plaintiffs' Reply in Support of Emergency Motion for Preliminary Injunction (ECF 60)”, October 16, 2026.
- The Florida Senate, “Florida Statutes 943.03102, Designation of terrorist organizations; effect of designation”, January 1, 2026.
- The Florida Senate, “CS/CS/HB 1471 (2026), Systems of Law and Terrorist Organizations, enrolled text (Ch. 2026-28)”, April 6, 2026.
- Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Administrative Register, “Notice of Designation of Domestic Terrorist Organization (CAIR), Notice ID 31452170”, October 6, 2026.
- Executive Office of the Governor, “Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Implementation of Florida Law to Combat Terrorist Organizations”, July 1, 2026.
- CAIR-Florida, “CAIR-Florida statement on suspension of operations”, November 5, 2026.
- ACLU, “CAIR and CAIR-Florida Urge Court to Temporarily Block Unconstitutional Terrorism Designation Before More Harm is Done”, October 28, 2026.
- ACLU, “Muslim Civil Rights Organizations in Florida Urge Court to Block Unconstitutional Terrorism Designation”, October 3, 2026.
- ACLU, “CAIR and CAIR-Florida Denied Opportunity to be Heard Before Florida Cabinet Vote”, September 29, 2026.
- Tallahassee Democrat, “Why Muslim group CAIR says it's shutting down in Florida”, November 4, 2026.
- X (@AGJamesUthmeier), “James Uthmeier post on X (court ruling)”, November 5, 2026.
- X (@AGJamesUthmeier), “James Uthmeier post on X (CAIR suspends operations)”, November 5, 2026.
- X (@AGJamesUthmeier), “James Uthmeier post on X (Oct. 28 hearing)”, October 28, 2026.
- X (@ACLUFL), “ACLU of Florida post on X (Cabinet vote)”, September 29, 2026.
Positions above are attributed to the public statements and published reporting cited here. Quotations are taken from these sources; Radio Purple does not publish unattributed or invented quotes. See an error? Request a correction.
