Huawei’s Legal Fight Against U.S. Ban Isn’t Grim—It’s Worse

A total of 230 years of history stands in the way of Huawei Technologies Co.'s fight against a U.S. government-wide ban of its products.

The U.S. Supreme Court has only struck down five laws as unconstitutional bills of attainder, also known as legislative punishments without trial, since 1789.

The Chinese telecom giant, hoping to take down the sixth such law, has told a Texas federal court that banning its products and services from government contracts also is unconstitutional.

But those claims, which are primarily based on alleged violations of Huawei’s economic interests, aren’t likely to fare much better than ...