huawei
© Mark Schiefelbein, File/AP Photo
A federal judge ruled today that Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei does not have grounds to sue the U.S. government over a law restricting its ability to do business with federal agencies and their contractors.

District Judge Amos Mazzant determined that Congress acted within its powers when it passed the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, including a provision that precludes agencies and contractors from buying certain equipment from Huawei and fellow Chinese networking giant ZTE.

Huawei argued the law was unnecessarily punitive and singled out individual companies in violation of their constitutional rights in a lawsuit filed last year. Lawmakers have asserted that Huawei could use its networks to spy on behalf of the Chinese government — a claim that the company has aggressively denied.

"Huawei is disappointed in today's ruling and while we understand the paramount significance of national security, the approach taken by the U.S. Government in the 2019 NDAA provides a false sense of protection while undermining Huawei's constitutional rights," a Huawei spokesperson said in a statement. "We will continue to consider further legal options."

A DOJ spokesperson said the agency was pleased with the ruling.

Though Mazzant found senators made "concerning comments" directed specifically at Huawei, including remarks that the company deserved "the death penalty," the words of individual lawmakers could not be used to determine the intent of Congress at large.

Some of the company's critics on Capitol Hill celebrated Tuesday's ruling. Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) told POLITICO that the judge "affirmed that Huawei can't use U.S. courts to undermine our own national security."

"Today's decision confirms what I said almost a year ago: Congress acted well within our constitutional authority to block Huawei from our telecommunications equipment market due to concerns with the company's links to China's intelligence services," added Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

The court also determined that Congress did not prevent Huawei from doing business in the U.S., but rather exercised its power to control how the federal government spends its money. It's akin to a customer taking its business elsewhere, the judge said.

The restrictions imposed by Congress are part of the government's multifaceted effort to blunt Huawei's reach in the U.S. and abroad. The Commerce Department has separately placed restrictions on trade between Huawei and private companies in the U.S. over similar national security concerns. The U.S. has also put pressure on foreign allies to abandon Huawei with mixed results.

Mazzant based large parts of his decision on a similar case involving Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky. In that case, a court also ruled that the company could not sue Congress for preventing federal agencies from purchasing its antivirus software due to national security concerns.