Standing on Standing

The Fifth Circuit returned to the question of standing in Airlines for America v. DOT, as to the standing of Texas to challenge the DACA program. The Court reaffirmed that Texas has standing based on a “pocketbook-injury theory,” which asserts that the presence of DACA recipients imposes significant financial burdens on the state.

Specifically, Texas argued that it incurs over $750 million annually in costs related to emergency healthcare and public education for DACA recipients. The Court stated:  “Texas has made this showing by putting forward sufficient, unrebutted evidence to support the ‘common-sense assertion’ that, absent DACA, some recipients would leave the United States.”

The Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit have not seen eye-to-eye in a number of recent cases that present questions of standing. In this case, however, the Court concluded that these recent cases did not unequivocally overrule the Fifth Circuit’s prior holding in an earlier appeal that concluded Texas had standing to challenge DACA. No. 23-40653, Jan. 17, 2025.