Pro-Palestinian groups targeted by DeSantis urge Florida court to block punishments

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Pro-Palestinian groups faced off against the DeSantis administration in federal court Friday over the state’s attempt to disband the student organizations, claiming they are tied to Hamas terrorists.

The fight, over whether Florida can push out a student group despite free speech issues, mirrors similar conflicts on college campuses across the country that played out during the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

During a three-hour hearing in a Tallahassee federal court, attorneys for two Students for Justice in Palestine organizations urged the court to prevent Florida and school officials from doling out punishments under an October state university system memo that ordered a “crack down” on campus events amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Lawyers representing the state, however, contended the students’ lawsuits should be dismissed because neither school — the University of Florida and University of South Florida — has taken action against them, leaving nothing for a judge to decide.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker gave no indication how or when he could rule in the case, instead venting frustrations about people in power “running off at the mouth” and putting lives in danger, pointing to the three college students of Palestinian descent were shot in Vermont late last year.

His comments, which came at the end of the hearing, referenced a key aspect of the case: how Gov. Ron DeSantis frequently claimed victory for disbanding the student groups while his administration steadfastly maintains it has done nothing.

“Words do have consequences,” Walker said shortly before dismissing the hearing.

Friday’s hearing was a key juncture in the high-profile case that has played out over the past few months when DeSantis was still on the presidential campaign trail.

Both lawsuits contend the state’s deactivation order, encompassed in a memo from university system chancellor Ray Rodrigues, unconstitutionally penalizes the Students for Justice in Palestine groups in violation of free speech and viewpoint discrimination laws. In turn, they’re asking Walker to nullify the order through a preliminary injunction and stop the DeSantis administration from breaking up SJP groups.

Walker peppered both sides with questions Friday, attempting to determine “who has the power to do what” under an order that came from the chancellor yet was left to university trustees to enact. The lawsuit also targets DeSantis, whose lawyer argued Friday should be removed as a defendant since the governor lacks enforcement authority.

Attorneys for the state argue that the memo from Rodrigues, which claimed the student groups, through an alleged connection with a national organization, are violating a Florida law that makes it a felony to “knowingly provide material support ... to a designated foreign terrorist organization” is “not enforceable” and “akin to an open letter.”

Although DeSantis has publicly celebrated punishing the pro-Palestine students, that means the order from Rodrigues has led to no changes on campuses in the state.

“The universities have not acted — period,” Ashley Lukis, an attorney with the firm GrayRobinson who is representing the Board of Governors and Rodrigues, said during the hearing.

To that end, Walker pressed attorneys for the groups, a panel made up of the American Civil Liberties Union, the nonprofit organization Palestine Legal, CAIR Legal Defense fund and other firms, to prove how the state is harming students with the order, asking them to put some “meat on the bone.”

For the students, their attorneys said, the order is a “cloud hanging over them” even if the groups haven’t officially been removed. The organizations are having a harder time organizing and hosting events and prospective new members say they are afraid to join, fearing the state or university may eventually drop the hammer.

If not for the lawsuit, the Students for Justice in Palestine groups would have already been deactivated, they argued.

“The best evidence that these students have a reasonable fear is the fact that the deactivation order has not been rescinded by the chancellor,” Brian Hauss, senior staff attorney with ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, told reporters after the hearing.

Florida officials originally seized on the student groups over a “toolkit” published by the national Students for Justice in Palestine organization that faced scrutiny here and other states for labeling the attack, now known as “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” as “the resistance,” while claiming that “Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement.”

The USF and UF students claim to be “fully autonomous” and have “no financial relationship” with the national group and are focused on leading educational events “about how the Israeli government abuses Palestinians.”