Who Will Own America
An interesting story covered by the Epoch Times, but so far I haven't seen any "breaking news" alerts from any other news organization, or other emails where it was featured.
There are significant legal questions raised, centered on Equal Protection and Discrimination. Going deeper, whether States must stand idly by while the Federal government lets the country be taken over.
One notable issue not covered by the article, and I don't know if it was argued before the Court, is whether the distinction in treatment is permissible because all a Chinese Citizen has to do in order to purchase land in Florida is to give up their Chinese Citizenship.
Granted, the problem of China controlling US territory would continue. Just as we have a huge problem with Bill Gates buying up large amounts of US farmland. China could just have its agents renounce Chinese citizenship. Legally, depending on how the Decision was written, it could set, in the long term, a bad precedent.
As Justice Robert H. Jackson in his dissenting opinion in Terminiello v. Chicago (1949) remarked, the US Constitution wasn't meant to to be “a suicide pact”. Alas, Justice Jackson was willing to do serious damage to the First Amendment, but it's a useful phrase.
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A federal appeals court has issued a limited temporary block on a Florida law that bans citizens of China from buying property in the state that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said was needed to counteract the “malign influence” of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in his state.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order on Feb. 1 that temporarily halts enforcement of a law called SB 264, or the Interests of Foreign Countries Act, with respect to two out of five plaintiffs who sued Florida over the law, claiming unconstitutional discrimination.
SB 264 was signed by Mr. DeSantis on May 8, 2023, and it was almost immediately challenged in court by four Chinese citizens residing in Florida and a real estate brokerage firm primarily serving Chinese and Chinese American clients.
[Snip]
Under the Interests of Foreign Countries Act, any individual who is domiciled in China and who is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States is banned from directly or indirectly buying property or having a controlling interest in property in Florida.
The legislation also prohibits citizens from a “foreign country of concern” from owning property within 10 miles of military installations or critical infrastructure in Florida. Besides China, the foreign countries of concern listed in the bill are Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Venezuela.
[The “citizens from a 'foreign country'” provision is almost certainly Unconstitutional if it is applied to US Citizens who are not Citizens of China. It has long been an unresolved question, Statutorily, Legally, and philosophically, whether “Dual Citizenship” is a good idea—being, legally, a citizen of two countries at the same time. That's especially been problematic with simultaneously being a Citizen of the US and Israel. Some other countries have laws that require one to choose their allegiance/Citizenship].
Federal Appeals Court Halts Florida Ban on Property Buying by Chinese