Arizona tuition lawsuit: DOJ faces standing challenge
State officials argue the federal government cannot sue because only Arizona institutions suffer the financial impact of the 2022 ballot measure.
By Giulia Marshall ·
Arizona state attorneys have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration against the state’s in-state tuition policy for undocumented students.
The legal dispute centers on Proposition 308, a measure passed by voters in 2022. The measure allows eligible high school graduates to pay resident tuition rates at public universities, regardless of their immigration status. The Department of Justice sued earlier this year, asserting that the policy violates federal law and a presidential executive order.
Assistant Attorney General Hayleigh Crawford filed a brief with U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow. She argued that the federal government lacks legal standing to bring the case. Crawford wrote that only parties with a concrete and particularized injury can sue in federal court to overturn a state law. She stated that the government points to alleged economic harm suffered by Arizona universities, but that harm accrues to the state and its institutions, not the United States.
The Department of Justice estimated the financial damage to the state at $10.5 million for the previous school year. Crawford noted that the administration’s calculation of the reduced tuition amount was incorrect, though she did not specify the accurate figure. She maintained that the error was irrelevant to the standing argument.
The policy traces back to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, created in 2012. Arizona colleges initially allowed DACA recipients to pay in-state rates. However, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that a 2006 ballot measure, Proposition 300, prohibited such benefits. Proposition 308 was drafted specifically to override that ruling for tuition and scholarships.
A 1998 federal statute restricts postsecondary benefits for noncitizens unless those benefits are also available to citizens from other states. President Trump issued an executive order last year directing the Justice Department to challenge state practices that provide benefits to noncitizens that are not extended to out-of-state American citizens. At the University of Arizona, in-state undergraduate tuition is $13,906 per year, while the out-of-state rate is $43,068.
Under Proposition 308, students must have attended a school in Arizona for at least two years while physically present in the state and graduated from an Arizona high school. Crawford provided examples in her filing to illustrate the law’s scope. She noted that a student crossing into Arizona daily from another state could qualify, while a family moving to Arizona in the final year of high school would not. She also stated that rulings in Illinois, Texas, and Nebraska do not apply because their state laws use different wording.
Judge Snow has not announced a schedule for considering the arguments.
