Federal judge blocks Florida governor's foreign terrorist label of Muslim groups

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A federal judge temporarily blocked the enforcement on Wednesday of an executive order issued last year by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that designates two Muslim groups as foreign terrorist organization...U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker wrote in his preliminary injunction that the First Amendment bars the governor from continuing the troubling trend of using an executive office to make a political statement at the expense of others’ constitutional rights.

The governor’s order targeted the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood. His office didn’t immediately respond Wednesday evening to an email seeking comment about the judge’s order.

CAIR and other civil rights groups sued DeSantis in December, shortly after the executive order was issued. The group has more than 20 chapters across the United States, and its work involves legal actions, advocacy and education outreach. The lawsuit claims the executive order is unlawful and unconstitutional, specifically that DeSantis has usurped the exclusive authority of the federal government to identify and designate terrorist organizations.

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