A group of undocumented students on Wednesday asked a judge to let them intervene in a case that revoked their access to in-state tuition, the first step in their ultimate goal of overturning the ruling.
The filing comes a week after the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas over its 24-year-old law that allowed undocumented Texans who had lived in the state for three years and graduated from a Texas high school to qualify for lower tuition rates at public universities. Texas quickly agreed with the Trump administration鈥檚 claim that the law was unconstitutional and asked a judge to find the law unenforceable.
The quick turnaround 鈥� the whole lawsuit was resolved in less than six hours 鈥� represents a 鈥渃ontrived legal challenge designed to prevent sufficient notice and robust consideration,鈥� lawyers for these students argued in their motion.
They鈥檙e asking U.S. District Judge Reed O鈥機onnor to allow them to join the lawsuit and argue for why the statute should remain in effect. The Justice Department and the Texas attorney general鈥檚 office oppose the motion on the grounds that the matter has been resolved and the case is terminated, court documents say.
O鈥機onnor, the George W. Bush appointee who blocked the law, has long been for the Texas attorney general鈥檚 office and conservative litigants. The Justice Department filed its lawsuit in the Wichita Falls division of the Northern District of Texas, where O鈥機onnor hears all cases.
The people who are most impacted by a lawsuit typically have a right to have their voices heard on a case, said David Coale, a Dallas appellate attorney. Getting O鈥機onnor to agree to reopen might be a tough sell, he said, but if they鈥檙e denied, they could appeal that ruling and the rest of the case alongside it, to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
鈥淭he 5th Circuit鈥檚 obviously a very conservative court, but part of that conservatism is a pretty limited view of the judicial role,鈥� Coale said. 鈥淪o if they get a chance to argue their case there 鈥� they may have some luck.鈥�
The law, which has been in effect since 2001, grants in-state tuition to anyone who has been living in the state for three years and graduated from a Texas high school. All students who claim this benefit must sign an affidavit saying they intend to become U.S. citizens as soon as they are able; many of them are here as part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The motion lays out the human impact of the law鈥檚 sudden reversal 鈥� a man who is reconsidering his plans to go to medical school in Texas; a woman who will have to drop out of her masters program, where she was studying to become a counselor; a teacher-in-training who will have to delay her plans to graduate and begin working.
They are represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which said in a press release that the abrupt overturning of the law has left students scrambling.
鈥淲hat happened last week 鈥� the invalidation of longstanding state law in the course of one afternoon 鈥� was an abuse of our judicial system,鈥� said MALDEF President Thomas A. Saenz. 鈥淭hose affected by the attempted invalidation have the right to be heard on the legality of the Texas Dream Act.鈥�
