"This prohibition blatantly violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection against discrimination," Judge Nancy Abudu wrote.

“This prohibition blatantly violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection against discrimination,” Judge Nancy Abudu wrote.

A federal appeals court blocked a controversial Florida law restricting Chinese citizens from buying land from being enforced against two people who sued the state, with one judge saying the law “blatantly violates” protections against discrimination.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Thursday said the Chinese immigrant plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, have shown a “substantial likelihood of success” in proving their case against the 2023 state law championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

One of the appeals court judges, Nancy Abudu, a former civil rights lawyer appointed by President Joe Biden, said the anti-Chinese statements of Florida officials about the legislation “establish that the law is a blanket ban against Chinese non-citizens from purchasing land within the state.”

“This prohibition blatantly violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection against discrimination,” Abudu wrote.

  • tanja@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    413·
    9 months ago

    It simply makes no sense that it only blocks Chinese citizens specifically.

    I don’t want anyone to buy/own housing which goes uninhabited for a long time while there are so many homeless people who need a place to call home.

    It’s difficult to imagine a person struggling to buy/rent an apartment/house, and for them to get mad about nationalities, rather than the fact that housing needs to be an “investment opportunity” over being recognized as the basic human need that it really is.

    I hardly care if it’s Chinese people, Wallstreet, some Big Tech corporation, or just individual landlords driving up prices.

    Housing must be accessible to all people, if a society wants to call itself civilized.

    This bill going against Chinese citizens, rather than all foreigners tells you all you need to know about the real motivations behind it.

    • MagicShel@programming.dev
      191·
      9 months ago

      I think it’s because Chinese people specifically hold a lot of real estate investments globally. With foreign-owned AirBnB a problem in many major metros, it’s a problem that does need to be addressed. I suspect the issue is that they wanted to address it but still allow, you know, wealthy white investors, so they made it about nationality rather than other factors.

      So yes, the law is a good idea but needs to be applied globally rather than targeting a specific ethnicity.

      • tanja@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        2·
        9 months ago

        Yes, basically agree.

        But I just think it’s kind of obvious why they only block one ethnicity, I believe protecting consumers was only the second priority here.