Florida – The Florida law that was supposed to keep Florida and the U.S. safe from the potential big influence of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party is set to fail if this week’s temporary court decision becomes permanent in the near future. When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law, he celebrated the decision as a huge win with Republican lawmakers, citing the safety of the state and the country.
But shortly after, a total of five entities filed lawsuits against the state, and now the future of this law remains uncertain.
The details
On Thursday, a federal appeals court made it clear that a Florida law meant to stop people from China from buying property in the state probably goes against a federal law, so they stopped it from affecting two people who were trying to buy or sell property. This decision came from a group of three judges in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. They didn’t stop the law entirely, partly because they’re going to talk more about it in April.
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These judges believed that the two people fighting the law might win because the Florida rule seems to clash with a federal law from 2018 called the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act. Usually, when there is a conflict between state and federal laws, the federal law wins.
This federal law has a group called CFIUS that looks into property deals with people from other countries to make sure they’re good to continue the process.
In November, the lawyers for the people who challenged the state law said the Florida law took over the job of the national government and ignored a more balanced plan for a much stricter one that Florida wanted.
The challenge to this law started last year when Governor Ron DeSantis and other leaders in Florida, mostly Republicans, gave their approval for the bill to become law. They argued it was necessary to reduce the influence of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party in Florida.
What is Florida law SB 264
The law (SB 264) targets individuals from countries Florida considers risky—like China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria. However, the main issue is with rules affecting Chinese citizens who aren’t American citizens or don’t have green cards.
These rules block people living in China from buying property in Florida, except for a few situations. They can buy one house on up to two acres, but only if it’s not too close to a military base and they’re in the U.S. on a non-tourist visa. Among those challenging the law, three have visas and one is asking for asylum. The real-estate company involved, Multi-Choice Realty, works with lots of clients from China.
The lawsuit raised a series of arguments, including that the law violates equal-protection rights and the federal Fair Housing Act. But U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor in August denied a request from the plaintiffs for a preliminary injunction, saying they are unlikely to be able to show the law was motivated by discrimination or lacks a “rational basis.”
The people suing took the fight to an appeals court
The people suing took their fight to an appeals court in Atlanta. On Thursday, this court decided to give a temporary win to two of the people suing, Yifan Shen and Zhimeng Xu, by stopping the law from affecting them until they make a final decision on the case.
“The balance of equities tips in their favor because their recent and pending transactions create the most imminent risk of irreparable harm in the absence of a stay,” said the ruling by Judges Adalberto Jordan, Kevin Newsom and Nancy Abudu.
In their arguments from November, they shared that Xu couldn’t buy the house he wanted in September because of SB 264. This meant he lost out on a home he couldn’t find anywhere else. Shen was also stuck because she couldn’t finish buying a house due to the same law.
