United States v. State of Texas: Date Argued: January 22nd, 2026; Docket Number: 24-50149

Case Summary: The United States sued the State of Texas, the Governor, and state officials in federal district court to challenge Texas Senate Bill 4 (S.B. 4), a state law that creates new state crimes for unlawful entry and reentry by noncitizens and authorizes state officers and judges to arrest, prosecute, and order the removal of noncitizens based on immigration violations. The federal government alleged that S.B. 4 is preempted because Congress has given the federal government exclusive authority over immigration and because the Texas scheme conflicts with the Immigration and Nationality Act by creating a parallel state removal system and undermining federal discretion in enforcement and foreign relations. After the United States, several nonprofits, and El Paso County filed suit, the district court consolidated the challenges and entered a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of S.B. 4, holding that the plaintiffs had shown a likelihood of success on their claim that the law is preempted by federal immigration law. Texas appealed, and in an earlier interlocutory ruling the Fifth Circuit panel (in No. 24‑50149) denied Texas’s motion to stay the preliminary injunction, concluding that Texas had not shown a likelihood of success on the merits and that the law interfered with the federal government’s exclusive power over entry, removal, and foreign relations. The case then proceeded in the Fifth Circuit under docket number 24‑50149, and on January 22, 2026, the court heard en banc oral argument in United States v. State of Texas to reconsider the panel’s approach to the injunction and the preemption and standing questions arising from S.B. 4.