The latest lawsuit of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, disputing his designation of the group as a terror organization, is being marketed as another major legal confrontation. In reality, it appears to suffer from the same fatal flaw that has undermined CAIR’s recent litigation elsewhere: a lack of standing.
In its complaint, CAIR struggles to identify any concrete injury traceable to DeSantis’s executive action. Instead, its primary claim of harm appears to be that a “production company” has stopped hosting CAIR’s podcasts. CAIR does not identify the company, does not explain the reason given for ending the relationship, and does not establish that the decision had anything to do with DeSantis’s order rather than ordinary business, reputational, or content-related concerns.
Courts have consistently held that speculative, third-party decisions — especially unexplained ones — do not establish standing. A private company’s choice not to distribute content is not government action, and CAIR offers no evidence that the state compelled or influenced that decision.
This weakness mirrors CAIR’s earlier courtroom failures. When CAIR sought a temporary restraining order against Columbia University, it failed to show any legally cognizable injury. When it sued Northwestern University to stop instruction addressing antisemitism, the case was dismissed almost immediately, again for lack of standing. In each instance, CAIR objected politically, but could not demonstrate actual harm.
Despite this record, CAIR continues to claim “victories” against Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and now against DeSantis. These claims rely on procedural moments, press statements, or the mere survival of early filings — not on rulings on the merits. Filing a lawsuit is not winning one.
Meanwhile, the media shows little interest in scrutinizing CAIR’s more extravagant claims. CAIR official Edward Ahmed Mitchell recently asserted that CAIR helped stop an assassination attempt against President Trump — an extraordinary allegation offered without evidence and met with virtually no journalistic follow-up.
…including helping federal law enforcement thwart attacks on the American people, including an attack on President Trump during his first term that we helped the FBI to thwart.
No outlet appears to have asked what CAIR supposedly did, when it did it, or how such an intervention would even have occurred.
The pattern is familiar. CAIR uses litigation and sensational claims primarily as media tools, not legal ones. Press releases substitute for proof, and headlines replace judgments. When cases quietly collapse in court, coverage fades.
Judges, however, continue to insist on basics: real injury, traceability, and evidence. And on those points, CAIR’s lawsuits — including the one against DeSantis — continue to fall short.
Billy says
Islam, its Mosques, its Schools, its Courts, its Islamic Centers, etc. should be legally banned for their teaching, promoting, and supporting via funding of discrimination, segregation, violence, and terrorism against Non-Muslims as taught in Islam’s Qur’an(Qur’an 9:5, 29, 111; 49:15, etc.). Islam is a Terrorist-Criminal-Gang Enterprise with thousands of entities operating in a territory.
Allah’s Islam, a supremacist Antichrist Ideology, is using Western Freedoms and Laws against Non-Muslims to conquer Non-Muslims under Islamic Rule. Non-Muslims should legally designate Islam as a Muslim Terrorist Organization(MTO) where Mosques, Muslim Schools, Islamic Centers, Sharia Courts, and Muslim Organizations are banned because of their incitement of segregation and discrimination to fight back against ISLAMIZATION, Muslim subjugation, and tyrannical violence(Qur’an 4:65; 9:5,29,111; 7:179; 8:22; 60:4; 98:6-7, etc.). Islam must be banned as illegal because Islam and its Muslims are a Terrorist Organization.
Muslims are terrorists for Allah with their MONEY and their LIVES while undermining a society from within using the man-made book of lies and deceit, the Qur’an. Allah in Qur’an 49:15 says, “Surely the believers[Muslims] are only those who believed in Allah and his messenger. They do not doubt, and they performed jihad with their MONEY and their LIVES for the sake of Allah. Those are the truthful.” Allah in Qur’an 4:101 says, “…Surely the infidels(Non-Muslims) were your clear enemies.”
MUSLIM BELIEVERS are a greater TERROR than Allah to make Islam supreme. Allah in Qur’an 59:13 says, “You[Muslims] are a greater terror in their chests than Allah. This is because they[Jews & Christians] are people who do not understand.” Islam must be banned as illegal, and we have the legal right to defend ourselves from Muslim violence. Also, Allah describes Muslim women in Jenna, Allah’s Paradise, as whores by Allah in Qur’an 56:37.
Wellington says
Using freedom in free countries in an attempt to destroy freedom. Very Islamic.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Karl Popper’s law in effect
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Problem is not that their lawsuits have a lack of standing: sooner or later, they’ll find a supportive judge somewhere to take them forward. Problem is that they have an endless pipeline of money, while their opponents don’t. That’s why their funding sources need to be investigated and cut off, due to their muslim brotherhood ties. Otherwise, in lawfare, they have the upper hand: as long as there are either devoted muslims willing to keep paying them the zakat, or Qatari money willing to bankroll them, they can keep appealing decisions that go against them. Otoh, if they win a battle, their opponents may not be as lucky – unless the governors being sued decide to appeal those judgements
Taffy says
You hit the nail on the head! Even if a lawsuit is frivolous, it still must be defended, and that costs money. When Governor DeSantis is the defendant, Florida’s Solicitor General will make short shrift of the litigation, and it will not have an effect on the State. Maybe, however, instead of seeking to dismiss on standing upfront, Florida will opt to seek discovery against CAIR and force them to disclose all their books and sources of its financing. CAIR will chicken out as they did when an employee counterclaimed against them. CAIR will drop the lawsuit if they are the plaintiff, and will quickly settle if they are the defendant, rather than disclose its financing. https://nypost.com/2025/02/28/us-news/hamas-linked-organization-cair-inc-wont-reveal-where-their-funding-is-coming-from/
But, such lawsuits allow CAIR to solicit donations by pointing to the “anti-Islamic” declarations of the Governor, and that CAIR stands between him and Islam. So, more money comes in to finance more frivolous litigation in the future.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
In this case, DeSantis should avoid any out-of-court settlements, and press on w/ the ban on CAIR. Force them to open their books to the courts, and don’t give them a way out. Once done, CAIR would be officially exposed, and anyone else who wants to bat for them – SPLC, ACLU, ADL,…. will find themselves quickly embarassed
OLD GUY says
Sounds like a dam good plan.
PRCS USN (ret) says
“unless the governors being sued decide to appeal those judgements”
One hopes.
Westman says
CAIR is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets its hour upon the stage, and soon will be heard no more.