A federal judge – the same one who blocked Florida's social media law and gutted the state's ballot initiative process – just handed CAIR one of the biggest legal victories the group has ever seen.
Ron DeSantis signed an executive order designating CAIR as a terrorist organization, and now that order is dead in the water.
Here's what the media won't tell you about the group that just got protected by a Florida judge.
What the FBI Found – And Why It Matters
CAIR was not plucked out of thin air and called a terrorist organization by a rogue governor.
The FBI cut off all formal contact with CAIR after the group was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism financing prosecution in American history – the Holy Land Foundation trial.
Federal prosecutors proved that more than $12 million flowed from the Holy Land Foundation to Hamas.
CAIR's founder, Omar Ahmad, sat on the Palestine Committee – the Hamas-linked umbrella organization whose meetings the FBI was secretly recording.
A federal judge in that case ruled the government had produced "ample evidence" establishing CAIR's associations with Hamas.
Former lead prosecutor James Jacks stated that CAIR participated in "an ongoing and ultimately unlawful conspiracy to support a designated terrorist organization – a conspiracy from which CAIR never withdrew."
That's not DeSantis talking.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1998156452377293228?s=20
That's a federal court record.
The Roster CAIR Doesn't Want You to See
The convictions tied to CAIR's inner circle are staggering.
Randall Todd Royer served as CAIR's communications specialist – then got sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for training with an al-Qaeda-tied terrorist organization and conspiring to help the Taliban battle American troops in Afghanistan.
Bassem Khafagi, CAIR's community affairs director, pleaded guilty to federal bank and visa fraud charges after funneling money to terrorism-linked activities.
Ghassan Elashi – founding board member of CAIR's Texas chapter – was sentenced to 65 years in federal prison for financing Hamas.
The FBI's assistant director spelled it out in a 2009 letter to Congress: until the bureau could resolve whether a connection continued between CAIR's executives and Hamas, the FBI would not treat CAIR as an appropriate partner.
That suspension was never formally lifted.
Then came October 7, 2023.
CAIR's national executive director, Nihad Awad, told an audience he was "happy" to see Palestinians "breaking the siege" on the day Hamas slaughtered over 1,200 people – including babies and Holocaust survivors.
DeSantis didn't make any of this up.
He acted on a documented record.
What Judge Walker Actually Did
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction – a temporary block while the lawsuit plays out – ruling that DeSantis had usurped the federal government's exclusive authority to designate foreign terrorist organizations.
Walker is an Obama appointee with a track record of blocking Florida conservative policies.
He struck down Florida's social media restrictions for minors.
He partially blocked the state's ballot amendment process.
Now he's shielding an organization whose own founder was recorded at planning sessions with Hamas operatives.
The legal argument Walker accepted is narrow and, critically, points directly to the next move.
The Florida Legislature is already advancing a bill creating a formal state-level process for domestic terrorist designations.
If that bill passes and CAIR gets designated through a proper state framework, Walker's procedural objection becomes irrelevant.
The Congressional Option Nobody Is Talking About
A bill is sitting in the 119th Congress right now – H.R. 4097 – that would formally designate CAIR as a terrorist organization at the federal level.
Pass that bill, and every injunction protecting CAIR in Florida, Texas, or anywhere else collapses overnight.
The FBI already suspended contact with the group over Hamas ties.
A federal judge already ruled the government had "ample evidence" connecting CAIR to Hamas.
The October 7 statements from CAIR's own leadership are on the record.
Congress has everything it needs. What it appears to lack is urgency.
DeSantis made his move. A judge blocked it on procedural grounds – not because the underlying facts about CAIR were wrong.
The facts were never seriously disputed.
Sources:
- "Text – H.R.4097 – 119th Congress: Designate CAIR as a Terrorist Organization Act," Congress.gov, 2025.
- "Federal Judge Agrees: CAIR Tied to Hamas," Investigative Project on Terrorism, 2009.
- Tom Cotton, "Cotton to Long: Investigate CAIR for Ties to Terrorists," U.S. Senate Press Release, August 5, 2025.
- Mitch Perry, "Federal judge blocks DeSantis executive order declaring CAIR a 'terrorist organization,'" Florida Phoenix, March 4, 2026.
