Foley & Lardner LLP partner Christopher Swift assessed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a Texas state law blocking foreign investment on national security grounds in the Forbes article, “Chinese Billionaire Claims Texas Law is Unconstitutional.”
The suit comes after Texas’ state electrical grid operator struck down a proposed wind project under the authority of the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act, a state law prohibiting companies controlled by some foreign nationals from gaining access to critical infrastructure in the state.
Swift said the suit is likely to wind up in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
“There’s a reasonable possibility that the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit Courts will reach different conclusions about federal preemption,” Swift added, referencing a Florida case on a similar matter stuck in the Eleventh Circuit. “That sets up an issue for the Supreme Court at some point. It’s a real possibility here.”
