by AP and Israel Hayom Staff
Council on American-Islamic Relations files federal lawsuit claiming Maryland's ban on contracting with businesses that support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel violates rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Maryland's ban on
contracting with businesses that boycott Israel tramples on the First
Amendment rights of a software engineer who advocates for Palestinians, a
Muslim civil rights group claims in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations'
federal lawsuit seeks to block the state from enforcing an executive
order that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed in October 2017.
The order requires contractors to certify in writing that they don't boycott Israel.
The group's suit claims the order has an unconstitutional chilling
effect on First Amendment-protected political advocacy supporting
Palestine.
CAIR says 25 other states have enacted
measures similar to Maryland's, through legislation or executive orders.
CAIR attorney Gadeir Abbas said other federal lawsuits have challenged
measures in Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas and Texas.
CAIR sued Hogan and state Attorney General
Brian Frosh on behalf of software engineer Syed Saqib Ali, a former
state legislator. Ali's lawsuit says the order bars him from bidding for
government software program contracts because he supports boycotts of
businesses and organizations that "contribute to the oppression of
Palestinians."
"Speech and advocacy related to the
Israel-Palestine conflict is core political speech on a matter of public
concern entitled to the highest levels of constitutional protection,"
the suit says.
Raquel Coombs, a spokeswoman for the
attorney general's office, said the attorney general hadn't seen the
suit and doesn't comment on pending litigation. A spokeswoman for
Hogan's office said, "We are confident that our executive order is
completely consistent with the First Amendment and will be upheld in
court."
Ali, a resident of Gaithersburg, served as a
member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 2007 to 2011 and
represented Montgomery County as a Democrat. He accused Hogan, a
Republican, of making an "end around" the Legislature by signing the
executive order after lawmakers repeatedly rejected several "anti-BDS"
bills targeting the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
movement.
"This is unacceptable, and Larry Hogan
should know that our rights will not be stricken by him," Ali said at a
news conference in Baltimore.
The executive order says a boycott based on
religion, national origin or ethnicity is discriminatory. A business
boycott of Israel and its territories "is not a commercial decision made
for business or economic reasons," it says.
"Contracting with business entities that
discriminate make the State a passive participant in private-sector
commercial discrimination," the order says.
In December, the Arkansas Times weekly
newspaper sued to block a similar measure. That state law, which took
effect in August 2017, requires contractors to reduce their fees by 20%
if they don't sign a pledge not to boycott Israel.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's
office argued that boycotting Israel is not activity protected by the
First Amendment.
"It is neither speech, nor is it conduct
that is inherently expressive, nor associational activity that is
afforded constitutional protection," wrote attorneys representing
Rutledge's office.
AP and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/01/10/muslim-group-sues-to-block-no-boycott-of-israel-measure/
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