Fifth Circuit squashes challenge to Texas ban on foreign land purchase

(The Center Square) – The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has handed Texas another win in a lawsuit brought by Chinese nationals challenging a state law banning foreign adversaries from purchasing land in Texas.

The law, which went into effect, Sept. 1, remains in effect.

Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott signed SB 17, filed by state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham. It prohibits the purchase of certain private property in Texas by governmental entities, companies and individuals that are domiciled in a country named in three recent Annual Threat Assessment reports published by the Director of National Security. It applies to agricultural, commercial, industrial and residential properties as well as mines, quarries, minerals and standing timber; it includes civil and criminal penalties.

The bill took several years to pass after multiple hearings and a Chinese Communist Party campaign against it, in which reporting by The Center Square was highlighted.

This year, unde...