Judge dismisses Huawei lawsuit alleging its US ban unconstitutional
DHARAMSALA, 19 Feb: A US judge has rejected a lawsuit filed by Chinese tech giant Huawei challenging the constitutionality of a law that banned US federal agencies from buying its products.
US District Court Judge Amos Mazzant has justified that Congress does have the power to ban federal agencies from doing business with Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese tech company as he ruled in favour of the US.
The Chinese tech giant had argued that part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) infringed on the company’s constitutional rights and harmed its existing and future business.
The judge has further written in his 57-page ruling that “the court finds Huawei’s arguments unpersuasive,” and that “contracting with the federal government is a privilege, not a constitutionally guaranteed right—at least not as far as this court is aware.”
Huawei has responded by saying in a statement it issued that “the approach taken by the US Government in the 2019 NDAA provides a false sense of protection while undermining Huawei’s constitutional rights”.
Huawei made it to the US’ economic blacklist in May 2019 after the Trump administration banned US companies from doing any trading with it owing to the threat it poses to the US’ national security and IP (intellectual property) theft, allegations Huawei has repeatedly denied.
Huawei is said to have close links with the Chinese military, as its founder Ren Zhengfei was a former officer at the People’s Liberation Army, besides selling cell phones, it also sells equipment that is part of the global roll-out of the fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks which experts say could be used for undetected surveillance or intelligence gathering by the communist regime.
