U.S. Muslim organizations filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeking to block the “unconstitutional and defamatory” proclamation targeting CAIR-Texas.
The lawsuit by CAIR Legal Defense Fund and Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) challenges Abbott's designation of CAIR as a terror organization, banning it from buying land and threatening to close the organization.
CAIR Litigation Director Lena Masri said the organization has "successfully sued and defeated Greg Abbott the last three times he tried to violate the First Amendment by punishing critics of the Israeli government."
"No civil rights organizations are safe if a governor can baselessly and unilaterally declare any of them terrorist groups," said Masri, vowing to defeat Abbott's "attacks on the First Amendment" again.
MLFA Attorney Charlie Swift said the proclamation "undermines the very foundational notions of due process that our system depends upon."
CAIR-Texas said it will not be "intimidated by smear campaigns launched by Israel First politicians" and plans to continue defending constitutional rights and human rights.
The lawsuit follows Abbott's designation of the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as "foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations."
Abbott also ordered investigations into alleged "sharia courts," accusing unnamed tribunals in north Texas of "masquerading" as legal courts and issuing orders that circumvent U.S. law.
