Texas Scorecard by Sydnie Henry December 22, 2025
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the plaintiff lacked standing to pursue the case.A federal appeals court has handed Texas a win in the legal fight over the state’s new foreign land-ownership restrictions, tossing a Chinese student’s challenge on the grounds that he lacked standing. The ruling means Texas’ foreign land ban remains intact.
Senate Bill 17, passed by lawmakers this year and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, restricts individuals from certain “designated countries” from acquiring real estate interests in Texas. Those designated countries are tied to recent U.S. intelligence threat assessments and currently include China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, with authority for the governor to add more.
Under the statute, individuals “domiciled” in a designated country—meaning their true, fixed, and permanent home is there, and it is the place they intend to return to whenever absent—may not purchase or otherwise acquire various property interests in Texas. SB 17 also empowers Attorney General Ken Paxton to set procedures to review suspect transactions and, upon finding a violation, to refer cases for civil or criminal enforcement and divestment actions in court.
The case, Wang v. Paxton, was brought by Peng Wang, a Chinese citizen who is living in Texas on an F‑1 student visa and studying for a Master of Divinity in Fort Worth. Wang has lived in Texas for 16 years, leads worship at a local church, performs with area orchestras, and says he plans to keep renting in the Dallas-Fort Worth area while he seeks work as a worship pastor after graduation.
Backed by the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance, Wang and other Chinese nationals on visas argued SB 17 is unconstitutional, claiming it violates the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and Supremacy Clause as well as the Fair Housing Act by restricting their ability to rent or buy property in Texas because of their citizenship and national origin.
They sought a pre-enforcement injunction blocking all applications of the law before it took effect on September 1.
In August, U.S. District Judge Charles Eskridge dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, agreeing with Paxton’s office that SB 17, as written and interpreted by the state, does not apply to Wang or others similarly situated.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/court-dismisses-challenge-to-texas-foreign-land-ban/
