A governor so consumed by ambition and cultural resentment that he was willing to torch the very legal and constitutional system he swore an oath to protect.

Constitutional Arson: Florida’s De Facto Outlawing of CAIR and the Collapse of Legal Guardrails

The Governor Who Tried to Outlaw a Civil Rights Group

Abstract: On December 8, 2025, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Executive Order 25-244, purporting to designate the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) a "terrorist organization." This article analyzes the order not as a legitimate exercise of state power, but as an act of constitutional arson; a deliberate, legally void, and politically explosive gesture that violates the foundational principles of federalism, the First Amendment, and due process. We document a watershed moment in the erosion of democratic norms: a sitting governor has officially codified the stigmatization of a mainstream Muslim civil rights organization, transforming smears into state policy and exposing the accelerating corrosion of American legal and political integrity.

Introduction: From Rhetoric to State Policy

For years, far-right figures have baselessly labeled the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) a “terrorist” entity. On December 8, 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis elevated this defamatory talking point to the level of formal state action. With the stroke of a pen, he did not simply violate norms; he ignited a direct confrontation with the U.S. Constitution, federal authority, and the very concept of protected speech and association. This article dissects the profound legal, political, and reputational damage already inflicted by this executive order, arguing that it represents a conscious abandonment of governance in favor of performative bigotry.

I. An Order Void on Its Face: The Legal Autopsy

  1. Federal Preemption in Ruins: Counterterrorism designation is an exclusively federal power, meticulously defined by statutes including the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. DeSantis’s order is an act of nullificationist provocation, a state’s attempt to usurp a core federal function. It is not merely unconstitutional; it is legally inert, a piece of paper carrying the force of law only within the governor’s own echo chamber. Its immediate fate is invalidation by the federal judiciary.
  2. First Amendment as a Casualty: CAIR’s activities—legal advocacy, public education, interfaith dialogue—are textbook protected speech and association. By declaring the group “terrorist,” the state of Florida has enacted a viewpoint-based punishment without a scintilla of judicial process. This is a bill of attainder and a prior restraint rolled into one, rendering the First Amendment’s protections conditional on the governor’s political whims.
  3. Due Process Executed Without Trial: The order convicts and sentences an entire organization without charge, evidence, hearing, or defense. This is the administrative death penalty applied by fiat, a tyrannical shortcut that shreds the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and stands as an indelible stain on Florida’s legal system.

II. Political Fallout: The Governor as a Pariah

  1. Inevitable and Damning Federal Rebuke: The order has already triggered, or will imminently trigger, a lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice. The State Department has been undermined, and bipartisan condemnation is unfolding. DeSantis has willfully made himself an antagonist to the constitutional order, branding his administration as one of reckless illegitimacy.
  2. Diplomatic Embarrassment Actualized: The order is now a document of record, cited by international observers and adversaries alike as evidence of America’s internal rot and institutionalized Islamophobia. It actively harms U.S. counterterrorism partnerships by telling Muslim communities worldwide that engagement with American civil society can lead to being declared a "terrorist" by a state government.
  3. Coalition Fracture Realized: Principled conservatives, libertarians, and constitutional scholars are now forced to publicly repudiate a Republican governor. DeSantis has sacrificed broad conservative credibility for the adulation of the extremist fringe, a catastrophic strategic miscalculation that isolates him from the very intellectual foundations of his purported ideology.

III. The Legacy Cemented: A Governor’s Name Synonymous with Constitutional Vandalism

  1. The Triumph of Theater Over Governance: This order is definitive proof that DeSantis prioritizes cultural warfare demagoguery over the sober responsibilities of his office. While Florida faces real crises, from climate insurance collapse to educational underfunding, the governor’s lasting policy initiative is the illegal targeting of a Muslim advocacy group.
  2. Historical Alignment with Infamy: Historians will now link DeSantis’s name directly to McCarthyism and Japanese American internment. He has chosen to stand not with the defenders of liberty, but with the architects of some of America’s most shameful chapters of state-sponsored bigotry.
  3. The Permanent Stain Applied: Ron DeSantis’s legacy is now sealed. His tenure will be remembered not for anything built, but for this singular act of constitutional demolition. He will always be the governor who tried to outlaw a civil rights group.

IV. Concrete Harms Inflicted Upon Florida

  1. Active Economic Self-Sabotage: The order is not a hypothetical risk; it is an active deterrent to investment, tourism, and academic and corporate recruitment. Florida’s brand is now officially linked to discriminatory state overreach.
  2. Theft of Public Resources: State coffers are now being drained to pay attorneys to defend the indefensible in court; a multi-million dollar vanity project that robs Floridians of public services to fund DeSantis’s legal hubris.
  3. Community Polarization Enacted: Anti-Muslim hate crimes in Florida are likely to rise, as the order legitimizes and codifies bigotry. The governor has made his state less safe, more divided, and a national symbol of intolerance.

V. The Corruption Fully Realized

This is no longer a warning about corrupt virtue signaling; it is a case study in its execution.

Conclusion: A Line Crossed, A Stain That Will Not Wash Out

Governor Ron DeSantis did not muse about this action; he took it. He signed the paper. He made the baseless, toxic rhetoric of far-right media into the official policy of the third-largest state. This is a moment of profound shame for Florida and a warning for the nation. The order will be struck down, but the damage is profound and lasting. It reveals a governor so consumed by ambition and cultural resentment that he was willing to torch the very legal and constitutional system he swore an oath to protect. History’s judgment is already clear: this is the act that defines him. Not as a leader, but as a demagogue who chose to wield power against the powerless, and law against the rule of law. The stain is not on his record; it is his record.

Return to michaelvera.org