What does "('*') = '*' mean in T-SQL
('*') IS NULL evaluates to false. As a result the OR part also evaluates to false. We can use the simple rule:

(FALSE AND Something AND Something_Else AND ... ) 
= FALSE


Of course as a result, if you comment out (('*') IS NULL) the result changes. 

Try commenting out the whole OR part: 

SELECT ...
WHERE ...
-- OR ( (('*') IS NULL)
--      AND Project.Invalid = 0
--      AND ... )
OR ...


This should have no effect, due to the other rule:

(FALSE OR Something OR Something_Else OR ... ) 
= 
(Something OR Something_Else OR ... )