(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A federal judge rejected a bid from Chinese nationals to block Florida’s state law restricting foreign ownership of property within the Sunshine State.
Allen Winsor, U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Florida, refused to block the law as a lawsuit against it is pending, according to the Daily Caller.
The small odds of success for the suit spurred the judge’s decision.
The plaintiffs are a group of Chinese citizens living in Florida, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
“While today’s decision is disheartening, our clients will continue to fight for their rights to equality and fairness on appeal,” said Ashley Gorski, senior staff attorney at ACLU’s National Security Project. “Florida’s law legitimizes and expands housing discrimination, in violation of both the Constitution and the Fair Housing Act.”
The groups launched the suit in May, arguing that the law infringed on the Constitution’s equal protection clauses and the Fair Housing Act.
“The problem for Plaintiffs is that, as noted above, Florida’s law does not make any classification based on ‘race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin,’” the judge wrote. “It instead classifies based on alienage, citizenship, and lawful-permanent resident status—none of which are covered by the FHA.”
The law prevented individuals from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria from buying agricultural land within 10 miles of military compounds or facilities that are responsible for building infrastructure.
“[It is] not in the best interests of Florida to have the Chinese Communist Party owning farmland, owning land close to military bases,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
DeSantis signed the bill into law in early May; the lawsuit launched shortly afterwards.
The Biden administration filed an official “statement of interest” in the case, accompanied by a statement explaining the discriminatory nature of the law.
