CAIR Taps Alleged Terror-Tied Legal Group to Fight Terrorist Designation in Florida
National Lawyers Guild attorney defends CAIR-Florida at Tampa press conference. The Guild lists Charlotte Kates, leader of U.S.-designated terror group Samidoun, as an organizer.
When the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) held a press conference Tuesday to denounce Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for designating it a “foreign terrorist organization,” the civil rights group chose a curious legal ally: the National Lawyers Guild. Charlotte Kates, coordinator of U.S.-designated terrorist organization Samidoun, was listed as a part-time organizer for the Guild on its website. NLG has also publicly defended Samidoun against its terror designation.
Miranda Margolis, representing the NLG’s Tampa chapter, appeared at the event wearing a keffiyeh to argue that DeSantis lacks constitutional authority to unilaterally label American institutions as terrorist entities. The press conference saw CAIR officials emphasize their commitment to constitutional rights and reject what they called “defamatory” accusations.
The Samidoun Connection
The NLG’s International Committee lists Charlotte Kates as its “part-time organizer.” Kates simultaneously serves as international coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which the U.S. Treasury designated as a terrorist organization in October 2024, describing it as “a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).” Canada, Israel, and the Netherlands have issued similar designations.
Kates was arrested in April 2024 after leading chants of “Long live October 7” at a Vancouver demonstration and calling the Hamas attack “a brave and heroic operation.” She traveled to Iran in August 2024 to accept a “human rights” award that was also bestowed upon the secretary-general of terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). She traces her world view to Lenin and Marx and has stated, “There is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas.”
Her husband, Khaled Barakat co-founded Samidoun and is designated as a PFLP leader by the United States. He was deported from the United States in 2003 and is barred from entering the European Union.
NLG’s Defense of Samidoun
When the U.S. designated Samidoun as a terrorist entity, the NLG issued a statement condemning the action as “the latest iteration of McCarthyism” and defending Samidoun as having “no ties to any so-called designated terrorists.” The organization compared the designation to Cold War-era persecution and declared: “An attack on one is an attack on all!”
In 2020, Samidoun, the National Lawyers Guild, and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network collaborated on a campaign demanding the release of Khitam Saafin, who was arrested by Israel in 2017 for being a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). USPCN was co-founded by Rasmea Odeh, a former PFLP member who was convicted in 1970 for her role in a bombing that killed two Israeli college students.
NLG’s Controversial Legal Legacy
Founded in 1937, the NLG describes itself as the nation’s oldest progressive bar association. But the organization carries controversial baggage. A 2014 convention resolution by NLG stated that it is committed to “dismantling the capitalist economic system.”
The organization has faced scrutiny from congressional Republicans over alleged ties to Antifa, which President Trump designated as a domestic terrorist organization. The NLG maintains active support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and has allegedly partnered with organizations linked to designated terror groups.
Constitutional Questions
DeSantis’s executive order, issued Monday, instructs Florida agencies to prevent CAIR and those who have provided material support from receiving state contracts, employment, or funds. The governor told reporters Tuesday that he welcomed CAIR’s legal challenge and described the designation as “a long time coming.”
CAIR, which has 25 chapters nationwide and was founded in 1994, has filed a similar lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who issued a comparable terrorist designation in November 2025.