Credit : Reuters' X
TAMPA, November 6, 2026 — The Council on American-Islamic Relations has suspended its Florida operations after a federal court refused to block the state’s designation of the group as a domestic terrorist organisation under a new Florida law, Reuters reported.
In a post on X, Reuters said the largest US Muslim advocacy group had suspended Florida operations over the “terrorist” designation law. Local outlets and the American Civil Liberties Union said the designation took effect on November 5 after Chief Judge Allen C. Winsor of the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida denied CAIR’s request for broader preliminary relief.
CAIR and CAIR-Florida said they would appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. A notice posted on the group’s Tampa headquarters stated that operations were suspended because of what CAIR called “baseless and unconstitutional enforcement” of the state’s domestic terrorist organisations laws by Governor Ron DeSantis and other officials.
Florida’s HB 1471, signed earlier in 2026, created a state process for designating organisations as domestic or foreign terrorist groups, with consequences that include bans on state funding and severe restrictions on association and support. Officials used that framework against CAIR and related entities; Attorney General James Uthmeier publicly welcomed the court outcome.
CAIR denies the state’s terrorism allegations and argues the statute violates due process and First Amendment rights by allowing executive officials to cripple advocacy groups without the protections of a criminal trial. The ACLU said Judge Winsor found plaintiffs unlikely to succeed at this stage on those claims, while recognising the regime as “novel—and perhaps unprecedented.”
The judge did grant narrow relief: defendants stipulated they would not prosecute employees, board members and third parties for good-faith involvement in CAIR’s legal challenges, or for actions needed to meet legal compliance duties. Advocacy and ordinary operations in Florida, however, are suspended while the designation stands.
Civil-rights groups warn the law could chill Muslim civic participation and set a template other states might copy. Florida officials say it is a necessary tool against organisations they accuse of supporting extremism. No federal terrorism designation by the US State Department is required for the state process to operate against domestic groups under the statute’s terms, according to explanations of HB 1471 in Florida media.
The Eleventh Circuit appeal will test how far states may go in labelling and disabling US nonprofits. Until then, CAIR’s Florida chapter says its doors remain closed.
National CAIR offices outside Florida were not described as closing in the Reuters alert or the Florida-focused local coverage summarised here. The immediate effect is on advocacy, legal aid and community services that CAIR-Florida previously provided inside the state.
Credit : Reuters’ X
Source: Reuters on X, with background from WUSF, WFLA, the ACLU and Florida officials’ statements. This report summarises the Reuters alert and independent coverage; it does not reproduce Reuters article text.
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