Texas Sued by Houston Contractor Over Ban on Israel Boycotts
Texas Law Barring Israel Boycotts Draws Suit by State Contractor
(Bloomberg) -- A Houston engineering firm is challenging a Texas law barring the state from doing business with companies participating in the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel over its treatment of Palestinians.
A&R Engineering and Testing Inc. said in a complaint filed Friday in federal court in Houston that the 2017 law violates its First Amendment right to participate in economic boycotts as a form of protest.
According to the suit, A&R has done more than $2 million of business with the city of Houston over the past two decades but refused to sign a contract renewal last month acknowledging compliance with the law, which applies to all municipalities as well as the state. The firm, whose owner is of Palestinian heritage, asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order barring enforcement of the law while the suit proceeds.
“It is my right and duty to boycott Israel and any products of Israel,” Rasmy Hassouna, the company’s executive vice president, said in its response to the city, according to the complaint. “This policy is against my constitutional right and against International Law.”
The City of Houston and the press office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is named in the suit, didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.
Texas Challenges
The lawsuit comes as Texas is facing legal challenges over several new laws, including a ban on most abortions and a statute barring government work with banks that limit business with the firearms industry. Lawsuits are also expected over a new law banning transgender students from participating in school sports on team that align with their gender identity.
But concerns about the BDS movement don’t fall neatly into the red and blue state divide, with many progressives expressing concerns that it has fostered antisemitism. New York and California are among the dozens of states that have anti-BDS laws, and New York last week said it was selling a $111 million stake in Unilever after its Ben & Jerry’s ice cream unit said it would no longer sell its products in the occupied West Bank.
The Houston lawsuit is the latest challenge to anti-BDS laws. A federal appeals court in February held that a similar Arkansas law was unconstitutional, but in June the decision was vacated so a larger panel of judges could reconsider it. An earlier challenge to Arizona’s law prompted the state to tweak the statute so it wouldn’t apply to nonprofits or companies with fewer than 10 employees.
“Loyalty oaths to foreign countries have no place in Houston’s contracts with Texans,” Gadeir Abbas, a lawyer with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which represents A&R, said in a statement on Monday.
The case is A&R Engineering and Testing Inc. v. City of Houston, 4:21-cv-03577, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas (Houston).
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