Texas Terrorism Law Chills Speech for Muslim Group, CAIR
Southern Methodist University (SMU) has informed the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that it can no longer host the group's Muslim Youth Leadership Symposium in September. This decision stems from Texas Governor Greg Abbott's November proclamation designating CAIR as a "foreign terrorist organization" (FTO) under Texas Senate Bill 1900, signed into law in 2023. SMU stated that permitting the event would be inconsistent with its mission and policies given the state's designation. The symposium aimed to bring together high school and college-age Muslim students for a day of leadership and civic engagement. While S.B. 1900 was initially intended to target cartel networks, its broad definition of an FTO has allowed for its application to organizations like CAIR, despite the group having no criminal charges or operations outside the U.S. CAIR was identified as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in a 2009 terrorism financing trial, and Governor Abbott asserts it is a "successor orga... 
