The US Department of Justice said in a court filing that a Florida law set to go into effect July 1st limiting the ability of some Chinese nationals from buying property in the state is unconstitutional and violates various federal laws, Politico reports.
Man of many -phobes–including homo-, trans-, lesbo-, oiko-, and biblio- among others–Republican Florida Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis added “Sino-” to the list as a way to bolster his rightwing credentials by heightening unreasonable fear that Chinese government officials are buying up real estate in the US; a similar Nipponophobic theme was popular in the 1980s.
In the DOJ’s “statement of interest” filed with the federal court in Tallahassee, the government stated the law violates federal Fair Housing Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment: “These unlawful provisions will cause serious harm to people simply because of their national origin, contravene federal civil rights laws, undermine constitutional rights, and will not advance the State’s purported goal of increasing public safety.”