Brief outlines constitutional violations in HB 1471, HB 1473, SB 1632, and SB 1634 — bills built on an executive order a federal court blocked yesterdayFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 5, 2026WASHINGTON, D.C. — United Voices For America today released a policy brief urging Florida’s lawmakers and governor to reject HB 1471, HB 1473, SB 1632, and SB 1634 — bills that would create a state-level system for designating organizations as “domestic terrorists.” No state and not even the federal government has ever enacted such a system, because doing so would be unconstitutional.

The full brief is available here.

The brief details how these bills would empower a small group of executive officials to apply the domestic terrorist designation without prior notice or criminal conviction, ban Shari’a law from Florida courts while exempting other religious legal systems, restrict school voucher access for Islamic schools, authorize the immediate expulsion of college students who “promote” designated organizations, and shield the designation process from public records disclosure.

The policy brief documents how the bills originated not from a public safety need but from a political campaign targeting Florida’s Muslim communities. Rep. Hillary Cassel filed the original version of this legislation on the anniversary of October 7, 2025, calling it an act of “solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people.” Governor DeSantis then issued an executive order designating CAIR a terrorist organization and called on lawmakers to “codify these protections.” Cassel withdrew her original bill and filed the broader HB 1471 at the governor’s direction.

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker blocked the governor’s executive order as unconstitutional First Amendment coercion. The judge described the governor as “choosing to be a bully — in the familiar sense of the term — from his pulpit” and concluded: “Political grandstanding does not an emergency make.” He quoted George Washington’s promise that the American government “gives to bigotry no sanction.”

The brief identifies four categories of constitutional violations in the legislation: suppression of free speech through government coercion of third parties, violation of the Establishment Clause by singling out one religion’s practices while protecting another’s, denial of due process by imposing punishment before any criminal charge or conviction, and vagueness in key terms that could sweep in gun rights organizations, reproductive health providers, and any advocacy group the state disfavors.

United Voices urges Florida’s lawmakers to reject these bills. Governor DeSantis should put the U.S. and Florida Constitutions first and veto them if they reach his desk. As the brief concludes: creating a legislative framework around an unconstitutional act does not make it constitutional — it makes it more expensive to defend and more harmful while it is challenged in court.
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