The Council for American Islamic Relations sued the state of Texas on Thursday over Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) Tuesday move to designate the group as a foreign terrorist organization.
In its lawsuit, CAIR claimed that Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton violated federal law by “improperly” designating the group a foreign terrorist organization and transnational criminal organization without due process. The group also alleged Abbott infringed on their First Amendment rights.
While CAIR has never been criminally charged with terrorism in the United States, the group was named by federal prosecutors as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation for providing material support to Hamas terrorists. The HLF defendants were convicted in that case. The FBI cut ties with CAIR in 2009, citing these ties.
A federal judge in 2009 said that there was “ample evidence to establish the association” of CAIR with Hamas. Watchdog organizations have also shed light on connections between CAIR leadership and terrorist groups. Shortly after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack against Israel in which over 1,000 innocent people were murdered, tortured, raped, and kidnapped, CAIR’s National Executive Director Nihad Awad said he was “happy to see people breaking the siege” on the day of the attack, calling it an “inspiration for people” around the world.
The United Arab Emirates designated CAIR as a terrorist organization in 2014 due to alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Critics have long called the group a “successor organization” to the group linked to and responsible for a number of terrorist attacks dating back to the 1940s.
CAIR rebuked Texas’s designation, just as they rebuked the UAE’s. They rejected the claim that the group is a successor organization of the Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR says the two organizations have no ties.
The organization additionally responded to the designation by claiming it stems from the governor’s alleged bigotry toward Islam.
“CAIR has spent the last 31 years vocally speaking up against all forms of bigotry and unjust violence, hate crimes, and terrorism, CAIR wrote in its lawsuit. “Governor Abbott’s proclamation is defamatory and finds no basis in law or fact, and Plaintiffs therefore ask this Court to declare the Proclamation illegal, and enjoin its enforcement.”
Abbott claimed the group violated the Texas constitution by attempting to create a Sharia law compound in North Texas and coercing Muslim-owned businesses to follow the practices. The Texas constitution prohibits all forms of religious discrimination.
Right-wing politicians widely criticize sharia law, pointing to Middle Eastern counties where the system of practices is often blamed for discrimination against women and other religions, requirement of male guardianship, limited divorce and custody rights, unequal inheritance rights, low age of consent, cruel and unusual punishment, suppressed freedom of expression, and required genital mutilation surgeries for women.
The only thing Texans should comply with is the “Texas Constitution,” which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion — period,” Abbott said. “The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world.”
“The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable,” the governor added.
ABBOTT DESIGNATES MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AND CAIR AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS
In response, CAIR alleged Paxton did not follow Article VI, Section 2, of the United States Constitution — commonly known as the Supremacy Clause — which states federal law takes precedence over a state constitution.
If the lawsuit were to be taken up by a judge, a judge could revoke the terrorist label from the group, and prevent Texas officials from issuing a similar designation in the future.