A U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday that Florida can restrict home and land purchases by Chinese citizens, dismissing claims that the 2023 law is discriminatory.
It comes after a court dismissed a challenge to a similar law in Texas that restricts the ownership of properties by Chinese individuals or entities.
The 2–1 ruling by the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for Florida to enforce SB 264, or the Interests of Foreign Countries Act, which bans individuals who are domiciled in China from buying property in the state unless they already owned all or part of a property before July 1, 2023.
The ruling could also encourage other states to adopt so-called alien land laws, which were once common but fell out of favor a century ago.
The court said the plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the law’s purchasing restriction because they failed to show an imminent injury.
According to court documents, three of the individual plaintiffs are domiciled in Florida, and the fourth, who’s “at least arguably domiciled in China,” already has a home in Florida and has no plans to buy another. The last plaintiff, a real estate brokerage firm primarily serving Chinese and Chinese American clients, also failed to establish an imminent injury, circuit judges said.
SB 264 requires persons domiciled in China to register Florida properties they own and also requires property buyers to sign an affidavit swearing compliance with the law.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court rejected claims that the law was enacted with discriminatory intent.
Statements made by Gov. Ron DeSantis and a state senator, and cited by the plaintiffs, “show that national, individual, land, and food security concerns motivated SB 264’s enactment. There’s nothing in these statements that show any animus toward Asian people or those of Chinese national origin. These groups aren’t even referenced,” Circuit Judge Robert Luck wrote.
Luck was joined on Tuesday by Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa, a fellow appointee of Republican President Donald Trump. Both judges previously served on the Florida Supreme Court and had been appointed to that court by DeSantis.
Circuit Judge Charles Wilson dissented, saying the regulation of foreign investment is “a quintessentially federal arena” and Florida’s law was preempted by federal law. Wilson is an appointee of Democratic former President Bill Clinton.
Reacting to the ruling, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier celebrated the win, writing on X that the law would prevent “ownership of Florida land by the Chinese Communist Party.”
Attorney Ashley Gorski for the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the plaintiffs, said, “Although today’s decision is disappointing, we'll continue to fight laws like these that blatantly target immigrants based on their national origin and ethnicity.”