Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping new law on Monday 6 April 2026 that gives state officials the power to designate groups as domestic or foreign terrorist organisations — and to require public universities to expel students who support them. The legislation, which takes effect 1 July 2026, has immediately become one of the most controversial new laws in the country, with supporters calling it a necessary public safety measure and critics warning it poses a serious threat to First Amendment rights and academic freedom.
What the Law Does
The legislation creates a state-level process for designating organisations as terrorist groups — a power that has traditionally been the exclusive domain of the federal government. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement can initiate a designation, subject to approval by the Governor and three Cabinet members. Once designated, a group can be dissolved and stripped of all state funding.
Critically, state universities are required under the new law to expel students found to be “promoting” a group that has been classified as a foreign or domestic terrorist organisation. Students expelled under these provisions who are in the US on visas must also have their immigration status reported to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), potentially triggering deportation proceedings.
Background: The December Executive Order
The new legislation effectively codifies an executive order DeSantis signed in December 2025, in which he designated two groups — the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) — as terrorist organisations under Florida state authority. CAIR, a major American civil rights and advocacy organisation with chapters across the country, has strongly disputed the designation and is expected to be among the plaintiffs in legal challenges to the new law.
Free Speech Concerns
PEN America, a leading free speech advocacy group, said the law contains “vague and overbroad language” that could chill protected speech at Florida’s public universities. The organisation warned that the definition of “promoting” a terrorist organisation is broad enough to capture ordinary political expression, academic discussion, or even journalism covering a designated group.
The ACLU has announced it intends to challenge the law in federal court before it takes effect on 1 July, arguing it violates First Amendment protections. Legal scholars are divided on whether the law can survive constitutional scrutiny, with some noting that the Supreme Court’s existing jurisprudence on material support for terrorism generally requires knowledge of and specific intent to further a group’s illegal activities — a higher bar than “promotion.”
DeSantis’s Justification
DeSantis defended the legislation as a necessary tool to protect Florida from what he described as threats to public order and national security. “Florida will not be a safe haven for terrorist organisations or those who support them,” he said at the signing ceremony. He pointed directly to the December executive order designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as evidence of specific threats the state needs to address legislatively.
Campus Impact
University administrators across Florida are already grappling with how to implement the new requirements. Student organisations involved in pro-Palestinian activism — which became widespread at universities across the US during 2024 and 2025 — now face potential scrutiny if they are associated with designated groups. Several faculty members have reportedly expressed concerns about self-censorship in the classroom on topics including Islamic history, Middle Eastern politics, and the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon.
National Implications
Florida’s law is the most aggressive state-level action yet in a broader national debate about campus activism and speech. Several other Republican-led states are monitoring the legal challenges closely, with some indicating they may introduce similar legislation if Florida’s law survives judicial review. Civil liberties advocates warn that a precedent-setting state-level terrorism designation power could be used unpredictably and punitively in ways that go well beyond the stated targets.