It’s like they just don’t give a crap.
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied advocacy groups’ bid for a new hearing to defend the Texas Dream Act, a state law that granted in-state tuition rates at public universities for undocumented students.
In July, a panel of three judges from the federal appeals court ruled 2-1 that Austin Community College and advocacy groups could not intervene in a lawsuit that ended the Texas Dream Act. The panel said federal law bans colleges from offering benefits to undocumented students unless citizens, including out-of-state residents, are also eligible.
In response, the advocacy groups requested an “en banc” hearing, an appeal for the full bench of federal judges to rehear the case. For the case to be reconsidered, at least one judge must request a vote on whether to take up the case again, and a majority of the judges must agree.
None of the judges requested the court be polled on whether to rehear the case, according to Tuesday’s ruling.
The denial marks the latest legal blow to the first-of-its-kind state law, which granted students who had lived in Texas for three years before high school graduation in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.
Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is representing one of the groups in the case, said he was “disappointed” in the court’s denial to rehear what he called a “terribly flawed panel decision.”
“We are considering our best option to protect the rights of the many Texans who relied upon tuition equity and the Texas Dream Act to pursue higher education,” he said in a statement.
See here for the previous update. All they’re asking for is the chance to provide a defense for this decades-old law that the state of Texas refuses to defend. It seems like the most basic of principles that someone should be allowed to do that, and yet here we are. They wouldn’t even let the whole court hear the motion. It’s as cowardly as it is corrupt. And now the only move I can see is SCOTUS. It’s ridiculous. The Trib has more.