All posts tagged: Council on American-Islamic Relations

Judge orders Texas to extend school voucher deadline in response to lawsuit from Islamic schools

Judge orders Texas to extend school voucher deadline in response to lawsuit from Islamic schools

Published by Sam Flores

(AP) – A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Texas to extend the application deadline for private school vouchers until March 31 due to the state’s exclusion of Islamic schools from the program. The extension comes after four Muslim parents and three Islamic private schools sued Texas leaders earlier this month, arguing state leaders discriminated against their religion by excluding them from the program. A lawyer representing plaintiffs in one of the lawsuits confirmed the ruling to The Texas Tribune. Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock — Texas’ chief financial officer who manages the voucher program — has prevented Islamic schools from participating in the program over claims that some are associated with foreign terrorist organizations. Hancock has said schools accredited by the company Cognia hosted events organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group that Gov. Greg Abbott recently designated a terrorist organization. CAIR has sued Abbott over the label, calling it defamatory and false. The U.S. State Department has not designated the organization a terrorist group. The comptroller’s office did not immediately provide comment …

Judge blocks DeSantis’ terrorist label of Muslim group

Judge blocks DeSantis’ terrorist label of Muslim group

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — A federal judge blocked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ move to designate a Muslim civil rights organization as a terrorist group in the state, calling the governor’s attempt politically motivated and unconstitutional.  Two months ago, DeSantis, a Republican, issued an executive order declaring the Council on American-Islamic Relations, one of the largest Muslim civil rights groups in the United States, as a foreign terrorist organization and directed Florida agencies to deny government benefits to CAIR or those who support it. The group and its state chapter then sued DeSantis in federal court. Mark E. Walker, U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Florida, ruled on Wednesday (March 4) that the executive order violated the organization’s First Amendment rights.  “Once again, Florida chooses political posturing over the First Amendment,” Walker wrote in his ruling. Alex Lanfranconi, DeSantis’ communications director, criticized the judge, writing in an X post: “Judicial ethics bars a federal district judge from continuing the troubling trend of using his judicial office to make a political statement at the expense of a …

Laura Loomer must resume payments to Muslim advocacy group, judge says

Laura Loomer must resume payments to Muslim advocacy group, judge says

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — A federal judge ordered far-right influencer Laura Loomer to resume her monthly $1,200 payments to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which Loomer was originally ordered to pay in a settlement reached after her failed lawsuit against the Muslim advocacy group. After multiple appeals, the ruling affirms Loomer’s requirement to pay CAIR and its Florida chapter the remaining balance of a nearly $125,000 settlement from a lawsuit the influencer brought against the organization in August 2019, alleging that CAIR Florida had conspired with the social media company then known as Twitter to ban her from that platform. Loomer had stopped the payments in December 2025 after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egypt-based Islamist organization, as foreign terrorist organizations. The governor had written that providing contract, employment or funds to these organizations would be considered “material support.” On Thursday (Jan. 29), the court denied Loomer’s request to cease payments based on DeSantis’ executive order. Judge Bruce E. Reinhart of the Southern District of Florida, who …