This case is one of several brought nationwide by States, counties, and nonprofit organizations challenging the Trump administration's revised, final public charge rule, which expands the types of programs that the federal government will consider in public charge determinations to now also include previously excluded health, nutrition, and housing programs. District court judges from across the countries granted preliminary injunctions enjoining the government from implementing the public charge rule but after multiple Circuit Courts and the Supreme Court issued stays of these injunctions, the public charge rule was implemented by the government on February 24, 2020. On February 2, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order calling for DHS to review agency actions related to the implementation of the public charge rule. A little over a month later on March 9, 2021, DHS officially abandoned the rule and the petitions for certiorari were voluntarily dismissed by the government.

San Francisco Sues Over the Public Charge Rule
On August 13, 2019, the City and County of San Francisco and the County of Santa Clara filed this suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its acting secretary in his official capacity, and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and its acting secretary in his official capacity, under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The plaintiffs sought relief to declare the Department of Homeland Security’s Final Rule (the Rule) vacated due to violations of the APA and to preliminarily and permanently enjoin the Rule from being enforced. The case was initially assigned to Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley.

On August 14, 2019, the DHS published a revised, final public charge rule, which defines personal circumstances that affect the ability of individuals and their families to successfully enter the U.S. or acquire legal permanent resident status (i.e., get a green card). The final rule increases the types of programs that the federal government will consider in public charge determinations to now also include previously excluded health, nutrition, and housing programs. The Immigration and Nationality Act provides that if an immigration officer finds that a person seeking a visa is likely to become a public charge, that person is “inadmissible.” Thus, an immigrant who uses non-cash benefits such as food stamps or Medicaid, or is deemed likely to receive them in the future, may be found more likely to be a public charge and inadmissible for purposes of a visa or green card application. According to a New York Times article, the new standards would directly affect about 1.2 million applicants annually, primarily immigrants from Africa and Latin America. The rule was initially set to be implemented on October 15, 2019.

The plaintiffs alleged that the Rule is unlawful because it "conflicts with the language and intent of the statutory provision it purports to interpret [the Immigration and Nationality Act], the broader congressional framework of U.S. immigration law, and federal statutes governing the public benefits enumerated in the Final Rule." The plaintiffs also claimed that the Rule is arbitrary and capricious, failing to meet basic procedural requirements of administrative rulemaking and explain why the Rule, which has been relied upon by local communities and immigrants for years, has been changed. The plaintiffs further contended that that Rule would be harmful; that it would coerce immigrants and their family members to disenroll from public benefits, undermine the plaintiffs' health and safety-net systems, and inflict significant financial harm on the plaintiffs.

After the plaintiffs declined to proceed before a magistrate judge, the case was randomly assigned to District Court Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton on August 21, 2019.

On August 21, 2019, Judge Hamilton issued an order relating this case with State of California v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (IM-CA-0157).

Plaintiffs Seek A Nationwide Preliminary Injunction
On August 28, 2019, the plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction, seeking a nationwide injunction enjoining the defendants from implementing and enforcing the Rule. The plaintiffs argued that a preliminary injunction was appropriate because of their likely success on the merits and that absent an injunction, the plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm. The plaintiffs also asserted that a nationwide injunction was necessary, as a "geographically limited injunction is likely to generate more confusion without significantly preventing disenrollment" and would not account for legal residents moving throughout the United States.

Judge Hamilton issued an order relating another case, La Clinica De La Raza v. Trump, to this case, on August 30, 2019 (IM-CA-0149).

On September 13, 2019, the defendants filed an opposition to the plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction, arguing that the plaintiffs have "no basis for turning their abstract policy disagreement with the Executive Branch into a nationwide injunction." The defendants asserted that because the plaintiffs are "municipalities rather than aliens governed by the Rule," they cannot meet jurisdictional requirements. Furthermore, the defendants contended that the Rule is not unlawful, as it "reflects Congress’s delegation of broad authority to the Executive Branch concerning the meaning of 'public charge'" and was "the product of a well-reasoned process that considered the plain text of the statute, legislative intent, statistical evidence, and the substance of hundreds of thousands of comments submitted by the public."

The Court Grants a Geographically Limited Preliminary Injunctions
Following a hearing on October 2, 2019, Judge Hamilton issued an order granting the plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction on October 11, 2019. 408 F.Supp.3d 1057. Judge Hamilton concluded that a preliminary injunction was appropriate because the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits and would be irreparably harmed absent an injunction. However, Judge Hamilton did not grant the plaintiffs' request to enjoin the implementation of the Rule nationwide. Because the plaintiffs did not establish "the necessity of such relief," the scope of the injunction was limited to California, Oregon, the District of Columbia, Maine, and Pennsylvania.

The defendants filed a motion for stay of injunction pending appeal to the Ninth Circuit on October 25, 2019. Defendants argued that they are likely to succeed on appeal because the plaintiffs lacked standing and did not fall within the zone of interests of the relevant statute. Defendants also contended that, because they would be "forced to grant lawful permanent residence (“LPR”) status to aliens likely to become public charges at any time under the Rule," they would suffer irreparable harm in the absence of a stay as their interest in "ensuring that 'aliens be self-reliant'" would be affected.

On October 30, 2019, the defendants filed an appeal of the order for preliminary injunction to the Ninth Circuit. The appeal was docketed the next day (Docket No. 19-17213).

In the Ninth Circuit, on November 15, 2019, the defendants filed an emergency motion for a stay pending appeal. The defendants' arguments before the Ninth Circuit mirrored the arguments they put forth in their motion to stay in the district court.

The Ninth Circuit and Supreme Court Stay the Preliminary Injunctions
On December 5, 2019, a Ninth Circuit panel (Circuit Judges Jay Bybee, Sandra Ikuta, and John Owens) issued an order and opinion granting the defendants' emergency motion to stay the district court's injunction. 944 F.3d 773. The panel also granted a stay of a nationwide injunction enjoining the defendants from implementing the Rule that was issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington (State of Washington v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security). The panel first concluded that the plaintiffs had standing and that the motion was not moot, despite nationwide injunctions put in place by district courts in Maryland and New York. Next, the panel found that the defendants demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits of their claims that the Rule's definition of public charge was consistent with the relevant statutes and not arbitrary or capricious. Finally, the panel determined that the defendants had adequately explained the reasons for the Rule, that they would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay, and that, despite potential harms to the plaintiffs, these factors weighed in favor of granting a stay.

Judge Bybee concurred, and wrote a separate opinion to note that "no one should mistake the court’s judgments for its policy preferences" and that it was time for Congress to weigh in on recent immigration debates instead of leaving them for the courts to decide.

Judge Owens concurred with the majority's jurisdiction analysis but would have denied the defendants' motions to stay, in light of: "(1) government’s heavy burden due to the standard of review, (2) opaqueness of the legal questions before the court, (3) lack of irreparable harm to the government at this early stage, (4) likelihood of substantial injury to the plaintiffs, and (5) equities involved."

On December 19, 2019, the plaintiffs filed a motion for reconsideration of the Ninth Circuit's order granting stay of the preliminary injunction.

In light of the Ninth Circuit's order granting stay and a Second Circuit Decision in State of New York v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security denying a motion to stay a nationwide injunction, on January 8, 2020, the defendants filed a motion in the district court for stay pending appeal. Judge Hamilton granted this motion on January 10, 2020.

On January 27, 2020, the Supreme Court, in State of New York, issued a stay on all nationwide injunctions enjoining the defendants from implementing the Rule. 140 S.Ct. 599. Following this decision, the defendants indicated that the Rule would be implemented and enforced starting February 24, 2020.

On February 18, 2020, the Ninth Circuit panel voted to deny the plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration. Judge Bybee and Judge Ikuta voted to deny the motion and Judge Owens voted to grant the motion. The rule went into effect six days later.

On June 10, 2020, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the State of New York v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security injunction that had been stayed by the Supreme Court. 962 F.3d 208. The Second Circuit followed suit on August 4. 969 F.3d 42. The Fourth Circuit reversed yet another injunction on August 5, but it did so without reference to the rulings of the Seventh or Second Circuits, and in large part because of the Supreme Court's stay of their injunctions back in January. 971 F.3d 220.

Preliminary Injunction is Affirmed in the Ninth Circuit then Stayed
On September 15, 2020, a new Ninth Circuit panel (Circuit Judges Mary Schroeder, William Fletcher, and Lawrence VanDyke) heard arguments for the district court's stayed preliminary injunction. On December 2, 2020, citing the recent other circuit court decisions, it issued an order and a 2-1 opinion affirming the injunction and vacating the nationwide application of the State of Washington v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security injunction. 981 F.3d 742. Writing for the majority, Judge Schroeder first concluded that the plaintiffs had standing because they were suffering financial harm from immigrants shifting to state and local aid. Next, she found that the plaintiffs demonstrated a high likelihood of success on the merits of their claims that the Rule's definition of public charge was inconsistent with a reasonable interpretation of the statutes and was arbitrary and capricious. She also found that the remaining preliminary injunction factors favored the plaintiffs. Finally, she determined that the nationwide injunction was not appropriate because identical injunctions had been and were still being litigated in other federal district and circuit courts.

Judge VanDyke dissented from the majority's analysis for the same reasons as the December 5, 2019 decision, citing the Supreme Court's stays from January, a dissenting opinion from the Seventh Circuit's June decision, and the Fourth Circuit's August decision.

Despite the affirmation, on December 16, 2020, the parties jointly requested a stay of the Ninth Circuit's affirming order, pending the Supreme Court's disposition on petitions from the Second and Seventh Circuits. Judge Hamilton in the district court granted the parties' request on December 17, as did the Ninth Circuit panel on January 20, 2021. The new public charge rule was to remain in effect until the Supreme Court ruled on the petitions.

On January 22, 2021, the Defendants filed their own petition to the Supreme Court.

The Rule is Officially Abandoned and Vacated
On February 2, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order calling for DHS to review agency actions related to the implementation of the public charge rule.

On March 9, 2021, DHS formally abandoned the rule. The government voluntarily dismissed its appeal to the Seventh Circuit, lifting the stay of the Northern District of Illinois' November 2, 2020 decision vacating the Public Charge Final Rule nationwide from (Cook County v. Wolf). That same day, at all parties' requests, the Supreme Court dismissed the pending petition for Cook County, as well as a similar petition for the Second Circuit (New York v. DHS) and the petition for this case.

On March 10, eleven state attorneys general, led by Ken Paxton of Texas, moved to intervene as defendants in the Ninth Circuit. They filed similar motions in the Seventh and Fourth Circuits, and a day later on March 11, they filed an emergency application to the Supreme Court to intervene on behalf of the government and stay the judgment from Cook County.

On April 9, 2021 the Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 to deny the motion to intervene without an opinion. 2021 WL 1310846. However, Judge Vandyke wrote a lengthy dissent, arguing that the Biden administration was now colluding with the plaintiffs in the Public Charge lawsuits, making their interests at odds with the interests of the states who were seeking to intervene. He explained that this case was clearly still worth pursuing, since it had sufficient merit to warrant Supreme Court review and the government was circumventing APA requirements. Moreover, even though the Rule had been vacated, there was still a chance the Supreme Court may reverse that decision, making this lawsuit not yet moot.

As of April 11, 2021, the Public Charge Final Rule has been abandoned and vacated nationwide. The parties are currently conferring on how this will impact litigation. The case is ongoing.

Aaron Gurley - 03/08/2020
Jack Kanarek - 04/11/2021


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