Overview
- Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a state-court lawsuit in Collin County asking a judge to declare CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations under Texas law.
- The suit seeks to halt the groups’ operations in Texas, including fundraising, recruiting, and owning property, and it targets CAIR’s Austin, Houston, and Dallas–Fort Worth chapters along with the national organization.
- CAIR denies wrongdoing, calls the filing unconstitutional and politically motivated, and notes it has already sued in federal court to block Abbott’s proclamation.
- Neither CAIR nor the Muslim Brotherhood is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, though Paxton cites the Holy Land Foundation case, including a 2008 conviction of a CAIR-Texas founding board member and CAIR’s unindicted co-conspirator listing.
- The litigation tests Texas’ authority under a 2025 law and the governor’s designation, creating parallel state enforcement and federal constitutional court tracks with outcomes yet to be determined.