The fight against a Florida law restricting property purchases by Chinese citizens may hinge on finding new challengers – and on persuading a conservative judiciary unlikely to reverse course, legal experts say.

In a 2-1 decision on Tuesday, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld two provisions of the 2023 law – requiring buyers to register their property and attest to their eligibility by affidavit, and ruled that the plaintiffs lacked the right to challenge the main purchasing restriction.

The primary obstacle going forward is that the judges are conservatives intent on getting an outcome that furthers their political priorities, according to Bob Jarvis, a professor of law at Nova Southeastern University who is not involved in the case.

“They bent over backwards to get this result,” he said, noting that two of the three Atlanta judges, both appointees of Republican President Donald Trump, resurrected a 1920s precedent restricting non-citizens from owning land that many legal experts had assumed to be “dead”.

Jarvis added that he was “stunned” by the ruling for a case that he initially expected to be a “slam dunk” for the plaintiffs.

The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals building in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo: handoutThe law in question, known as SB 264, is one of several state measures enacted in recent years restricting foreign ownership of land. It bars individuals “domiciled” in China who are not US citizens or green card holders from purchasing property in Florida.