ACLU Sues Florida over Anti-Cuba Travel Ban

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida has challenged the constitutionality of a state law banning public universities from using public or private funds to pay for travel to any country listed by the State Department as “state sponsors of terrorism.”

While the list includes North Korea, Iran, Libya, Syria and Sudan, the law´s real target is Cuba, long a political football in a state that is home to an estimated 850,000 Cubans, most of whom are exiles but half of whom are registered to vote.

Florida´s Travel Act (SB 2434), signed into law on May 30 by Gov. Jeb Bush, was set to go into effect on July 1. According to ACLU Communications Director Brandon Hensler, it is the first state law of its kind.

The ACLU complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, argues that the law violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution because it exceeds and interferes with federal laws on foreign relations, travel and commerce.

The complaint further alleges that the law violates the First Amendment.

“The primary effect of this legislation is to deny Americans information about other parts of the world,” said Howard Simon, ACLU of Florida´s executive director.

Simon added that the law “serves to keep Americans uninformed about climate changes that may affect our economy, the understanding of diseases necessary to protect our health and information about political and economic developments that may be vital for our national security.”

Among its new restrictions in 2004, the Treasury Department outlawed travel to Cuba for classes less than a semester long. That made qualifying especially difficult in California, where the state schools operate on a quarterly system.

The new restrictions also limited who could sign up for programs, cutting out participation by any who were not full-time, matriculated students enrolling in full-semester classes in their major fields.