The Public Charge Lawsuits: Five Weeks In, No Injunction Was Asked For, and the Rule Stays Until 2027

When the public charge rescission took effect on September 18, the question we heard most was whether a court would stop it. Five weeks later the answer is clear enough to state: no court has been asked to.

The suits

New York’s attorney general leads a coalition of twenty-one states, the District of Columbia and the governor of Pennsylvania in the first case. New York City leads a coalition of cities and counties in the second. A third, Make the Road New York v. DHS, No. 1:26-cv-08129, filed September 17, was accepted as a related case before the same judge and is proceeding on the same schedule. All challenge the rule published at 91 Fed. Reg. 45324 on July 20, 2026, which rescinded the 2022 public charge regulation and took effect September 18.

Where they stand

The docket tells the story. No temporary restraining order was sought. No preliminary injunction motion has been filed. Instead the parties agreed to a schedule, entered October 6: the government produces the administrative record today, October 23; the states move for summary judgment on December 11; the government cross-moves on January 29, 2027; the states’ combined opposition and reply is due February 26 and the government’s reply March 12. A decision, on that calendar, comes sometime after March. An appeal would follow either way.

What that means

The rule is in full effect and will remain so for at least the next several months. Every adjustment application postmarked or electronically submitted on or after September 18 is being adjudicated under the new guidance, with the broader benefits definition and the five-factor totality test we described in September. The plaintiffs’ choice not to seek emergency relief does not mean the suits are weak; it means they are being litigated on the record rather than on the shadow docket, and that a result is months away.

For anyone deciding whether and when to file, the planning assumption should be that the rule applies and will keep applying. Our public charge checker walks through which part of the rule reaches a given application; it is current as of today.

This article is general legal information about pending litigation, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Case status is as of the date shown and will change. Consult a qualified immigration attorney about your own filing. This website is attorney advertising.