Civil Rights Groups Condemn New Florida Anti-Terrorism Laws as State-Level Tools of Authoritarian Repression

Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights stand in solidarity with organizations, movements, activists and communities in Florida impacted by two so-called anti-terrorism laws that went into effect on July 1, 2026, which represent a new state-level tool of authoritarian political repression.

HB1471 and HB1473 constitute an unprecedented attempt to extend anti-terrorism authority to a state government by granting a small group of Florida officials the power to designate domestic and foreign groups as "terrorist organizations." While the federal government has long claimed the power to unilaterally designate "foreign terrorist organizations," there is currently no parallel federal process to designate domestic organizations, though recent executive measures and the Prairieland prosecution reveal the Trump administration's intent to frame protest against state violence as domestic terrorism and use counter-terrorism infrastructure to target it.

Moments after the bills went into effect, Governor DeSantis announced the intent to designate the civil rights group, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), as well as the Muslim Brotherhood, and "antifa" as "domestic terrorist organizations." On the same day, the ACLU and SPLC filed a lawsuit on behalf of CAIR and CAIR Florida challenging the constitutionality of the law and the designation on the basis that they violate First Amendment rights of speech, association and petition, and Fourteenth Amendment rights of due process.

This dangerous development in the right's attempt to consolidate its authoritarian project signals an escalation in the attack on Palestine solidarity and social justice movements more widely. HB1471 ("Systems of Law and Terrorist Organizations") and its companion legislation HB1473 ("Public Records/Terrorist Organizations") work in tandem against targeted groups, allowing the state to designate "Domestic Terrorist Organizations" (DTOs), administratively dissolve those organizations, and criminalize individuals who "knowingly provide material support or resources" to the DTO. HB1471 also claims authority beyond Florida's borders, allowing the designation of any U.S.-based organization. Under HB1473, any information deemed "relevant to state or national security" can be shielded from access, severely limiting groups' ability to challenge their designation and the public's ability to hold the government accountable.

HB1471 is also explicitly designed to penalize student protestors for their "promotion" of terrorism, DTOs, or individuals who support DTOs, with "promotion" defined broadly to include statements or actions that allegedly "materially [disrupt] the orderly learning environment." Given Florida officials' previous targeting of student groups that have protested Israel's ongoing US-backed genocide in Palestine, which Palestine Legal with the ACLU and CAIR separately challenged on behalf of student groups, this language is clearly intended to enable targeting of student political expression and organizing on Palestine and other causes Florida officials disagree with.

Florida officials' actions further evidence the anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian motivation behind the Florida laws. HB1471 and HB1473 were introduced by Florida House Representative Hillary Cassel soon after she left the Democratic party over its "failure to unequivocally support Israel." Governor Ron DeSantis has made clear, both in his statements when he signed the laws, and in his prior Executive Order "designating" CAIR, which a federal court blocked from taking effect, his intent to target groups that dissent from his anti-Muslim, pro-Israel, MAGA agenda.

These laws are part and parcel of a rightwing, state-by-state strategy to consolidate anti-democratic rule, as well as decades-long efforts by pro-Israel groups like the ADL and the Heritage Foundation to weaponize anti-terrorism laws and rhetoric against constitutionally-protected speech and advocacy in support of Palestine. "Terrorism" labels and designations are part of a long history of criminalizing, discrediting and using violence against communities and movements that challenge and resist oppressive US and allied political, economic, and social policies, domestically and internationally. The development of the federal government's anti-terror infrastructure has often been prompted by flashpoints in the Palestinian liberation struggle, resulting in expansions in the state's arsenal of repression, and disproportionately impacting Palestinians as well as BAMEMSA communities more broadly. The infrastructure built to effectuate this repression - including sanctions, surveillance, and punitive criminal sentencing - is increasingly being deployed against groups and individuals engaged in advocacy challenging government policy, from student protestors at Columbia, to Flotilla activists attempting to break the siege of Gaza, to individuals who protest ICE's violence.

We should reject attempts to frame this state designation and accompanying new "material support for terrorism" scheme simply as unlawful deviations from the otherwise legitimate exercise of national security anti-terrorism powers by the federal government. Rather, this development is an attempt to consolidate a stranglehold on domestic dissent by fulfilling a logic inherent in the architecture of the anti-terror regime, which gives the executive unilateral authority to criminalize and render political dissidents radioactive.

While the full implications and fate of these laws is still to be determined, and we are confident that legal challenges will prevail against such blatantly unconstitutional measures, the rightwing actors behind these and similar legislation will continue to pursue efforts to attack broader movement ecosystems by isolating and criminalizing opposition to their agendas.

We call on movement and civil society groups nationwide to show solidarity with targeted groups, with the student movement, and against these laws, which are being replicated in other states in an effort to target effective civil society and movement work. This requires ensuring that vulnerable groups are not isolated from broader civil society networks preemptively out of fear, , and continuing strategic organizing that is essential to defeating these attacks. We also encourage groups to take a critical approach and to speak out against the legitimacy of the "terrorism" framework historically used to isolate Palestine activists and marginalize Muslim communities, and increasingly used to criminalize and silence broader dissent. This moment requires both immediate action against this draconian and anti-democratic attack, as well as urgent long term work to dismantle the tools that criminalize dissent and undermine civil rights and liberties, and to build a society that prioritizes and promotes our collective ability to live free of war, poverty, racism, and oppression, with full human dignity.

For more in-depth information on the Florida laws, see Muslims for Just Futures' primer.

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Palestine Legal is an independent organization dedicated to protecting the civil and constitutional rights of people in the US who speak out for Palestinian freedom. Our mission is to bolster the Palestine solidarity movement by challenging efforts to threaten, harass and legally bully activists into silence and inaction. Visit www.palestinelegal.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

The Center for Constitutional Rights works with communities under threat to fight for justice and liberation through litigation, advocacy, and strategic communications. Since 1966, the Center for Constitutional Rights has taken on oppressive systems of power, including structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and governmental overreach. Learn more at ccrjustice.org. Follow the Center for Constitutional Rights on social media: Center for Constitutional Rights on Facebook, @theCCR on Twitter, and ccrjustice on Instagram.