The Ninth Circuit, widely considered one of the most liberal in the country, has reversed a ruling from an activist judge to block the Trump administration’s efforts to end the visa lottery heading into next year.
COURT WIN: The Ninth Circuit — one of the most liberal appeals courts in the country — handed Trump a victory by blocking a lower court order that would have forced the State Department to reopen the diversity visa lottery for 2027. The 2-1 ruling found that the immigration law firm Red Eagle, which sued on its own behalf rather than on behalf of actual lottery applicants, lacked standing to challenge the shutdown. The court said the visa program was designed to "encourage immigration, not generate revenue for law firms." But the Ninth Circuit added a pointed caveat: "We do not endorse the Department's failure to open the lottery registration period." The ruling was procedural — the court never weighed whether the State Department actually broke the law by freezing the program indefinitely. Full story here https://t.co/EKFy57NMI9
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) October 30, 2026
Another *huge* immigration win for President Trump and Secretary Rubio. Must they, now, open the diversity visa lottery program? The program gives visas to people for being from countries without many people that qualify for merit based visas. No, per the Ninth Circuit. Stayed! https://t.co/u9wANV8VZu
— Eric W. (@EWess92) October 30, 2026
Federal Court allows Rubio to suspend Visa Lottery
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) October 30, 2026
The three-panel court, made up of Clinton, Biden, and Bush appointees, ruled 3-0 in favor of the Trump administration, saying that it “would be opening the floodgates, allowing all lawyers to ‘roam the country in search of governmental wrongdoing’” had they not ruled against it.
The Trump administration had been ordered to reinstate the visa lottery in mid-October by Judge Jinsook Ohta, an appointee of President Joe Biden. The ruling would have allowed 55,000 from visa lottery-eligible countries to enter the United States with lawful permanent residence.
The case against the Trump administration policy was brought forth by Red Eagle Law, a firm that specializes in visa applications for foreign nationals.