Attorneys argue that Florida law discriminates against Chinese nationals trying to buy homes

Jerry Thomas |19th April, 2024.

A Florida law that was controversially passed last year and prohibits Chinese citizens from purchasing real estate in most of the state was challenged by an attorney on Friday before a federal appeals court. The attorney claimed the law violates the federal government's authority to decide foreign affairs and is discriminatory.

Representing four Chinese citizens residing in the state, attorney Ashley Gorski declared before a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that "Florida is unlawfully restricting housing for Chinese people." The law prohibits the purchase of real estate close to military installations and other "critical infrastructure" by Chinese nationals and citizens of other nations Florida deems a threat.

She likened it to long-repeated restrictions from the early 1900s that prohibited Chinese people from purchasing real estate.

"It is discriminating against individuals from specific nations in a manner that is incompatible with the current guarantees of equal protection," Gorski informed the court.

Judges Charles Wilson, Robert Luck, and Barbara Lagoa were informed by state attorney Nathan Forrester that the legislation is consistent with the Biden administration's concerns about national security, including the dangers presented by the Chinese government.

"It has nothing to do with race," Forrester stated. This bill is intended to address the Chinese government, which is the source of worry. The Chinese government's manipulation is the cause for alarm.

At the time, DeSantis referred to China as the nation's "greatest geopolitical threat" and said that by passing the bill, the Chinese Communist Party—which he had repeatedly targeted in his abortive bid to win the Republican presidential nomination—was being opposed. Citizens of Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Russia, and North Korea are also impacted by the law. The worst punishments, however, are meted out to Chinese nationals and those who sell real estate to them.

DeSantis appointed Luck and Lagoa to the Florida Supreme Court, where they both served in 2019. Later that year, then-President Donald Trump nominated Luck and Lagoa to the federal court. In 1999, Wilson was nominated to the court by President Bill Clinton.

Luck questioned how explicitly Gorski's clients had been affected during the arguments, expressing doubt about whether they had standing to file the claim.

In response, Gorski stated that the law declares "some kind of economic war" against China and forbids Chinese citizens from obtaining home mortgages in Florida. It may have important ramifications for international policy, she added.

She stated, "Because it's a big decision with big foreign policy implications, Congress only gave the president the power to forbid a transaction."

However, Luck retorted, claiming that the state had drafted the statute using U.S. policy as a guide. "Florida piggybacked on what the federal government was doing," he claimed.

Forrester noted that the Biden administration didn't file a brief in support of Gorski's clients.

Wilson said that the term "critical infrastructure" is broad and that there are around two dozen military bases in Florida. He questioned Forrester about whether any property in Florida would still be available for purchase by a citizen of the prohibited nations in light of such restrictions. According to Forrester, maps were still being created.

The lawyers for Yifan Shen, Zhiming Xu, Xinxi Wang, and Yongxin Liu contended in the initial complaint i to the Tallahassee district court last May that the law unconstitutionally "casts a cloud of suspicion over anyone of Chinese descent who seeks to buy property in Florida," in violation of the equal protection and due process clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

However, Trump appointee U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor declined to stay the bill, stating that the Chinese nationals had not demonstrated that the Legislature was driven by a "unlawful animus" based on race.