By Andrew Chung
(Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a bid by a group of Republican state officials to take over the defense of a hardline immigration rule issued by former President Donald Trump’s administration that had barred certain immigrants deemed likely to require government benefits from obtaining legal permanent residency.
The justices took up an appeal by 13 Republican state attorneys general led by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich of a lower court’s ruling that rejected their bid to defend Trump’s “public charge” rule. President Joe Biden’s administration dropped the government’s defense of the policy. A federal judge in Illinois in a separate case vacated the rule nationwide.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Leslie Adler)