The Justice Department has launched what it describes as its final wave of lawsuits challenging state and local laws that allow undocumented students to access in-state tuition and related higher-education benefits. The new suits target Hawaii, Arkansas, Utah, and the District of Columbia, extending a litigation campaign with potentially significant consequences for immigration policy, public university systems, and the balance of state and federal authority.

At the center of these cases is a recurring legal question: whether state or local tuition-benefit regimes for undocumented students are consistent with federal immigration law, or whether they are preempted by it.

The Third Circuit has revived a closely watched challenge to New Jersey’s gun-industry public-nuisance statute, allowing the National Shooting Sports Foundation to continue pressing claims that the law is unconstitutional and preempted by federal law. In a September 8, 2026 decision, the appellate court reversed a lower-court stay that had paused the federal case while related state-court issues played out.

The dispute centers on a New Jersey law authorizing civil actions against firearm manufacturers, distributors, and sellers for conduct alleged to endanger public health and safety.

A federal judge on July 2 temporarily blocked Philadelphia from enforcing a city measure aimed at federal immigration operations, preventing the city from requiring federal officers to go unmasked, display visible identification, and use marked vehicles during enforcement activity. The ruling is an early but important development in a fast-evolving conflict between local efforts to regulate immigration tactics and the federal government’s claim to operational control over its officers.

At the center of the dispute is a familiar constitutional fault line: whether a municipality can impose rules that affect how federal officers carry out federal law.

The Second Circuit has handed New York City and New York State a major appellate win, ruling that they may enforce measures that effectively bar fossil-fuel appliances in newly constructed buildings. The decision is important well beyond New York: it sharpens a growing disagreement among federal appeals courts over whether local and state building-electrification laws are preempted by federal energy-efficiency statutes.

At the center of the dispute were challenges by trade groups and unions arguing that the city and state restrictions unlawfully intrude on an area governed by federal law, particularly the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a consequential new front in the federal-state debate over immigration and public benefits, suing New Jersey over state laws that allow undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition and state financial assistance at public colleges and universities. The complaint tees up a challenge with both preemption and constitutional dimensions, and it is likely to draw close attention from states, higher-education institutions, and practitioners watching the boundaries of state authority in immigration-adjacent policymaking.

At issue are New Jersey measures that extend reduced tuition rates and aid eligibility to certain students without lawful immigration status, provided they meet state-defined criteria.

The Justice Department has filed suit against New Jersey, Gov. Mikie Sherrill, and Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, alleging that the state’s “Law Enforcement Officer Protection Act” unlawfully restricts federal law-enforcement activity. The case, filed in federal court in New Jersey, tees up a direct confrontation over the limits of state power when federal officers operate within state borders.

At the center of the dispute is a familiar constitutional fault line: whether a state may regulate, constrain, or impose conditions on federal officials carrying out federal duties.