Appeals Court Rules for Trump Administration in Diversity Visa Lottery Case

A federal appeals court has sided with the Trump administration, blocking a lower court's order that would have compelled the State Department to reopen the application period for the 2027 Diversity Visa lottery. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the immigration law firm Red Eagle did not have the legal standing to challenge the administration's decision to indefinitely pause the program.

The Diversity Visa lottery annually admits approximately 55,000 immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration. In November, the State Department, under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, issued a notice delaying the program to implement unspecified changes. However, the application period never opened. The department later placed an indefinite pause on issuing diversity visas following a mass shooting at Brown University committed by a Portuguese national who had received a lottery visa in 2017.

The Ninth Circuit found that the law firm's claim of standing was based on hypothetical or conjectural harm and that the program was intended to encourage immigration, not generate revenue for law firms. "If Red Eagle Law were allowed to allege standing based upon its hypothetical or conjectural collateral injury, we would be opening the floodgates, allowing all lawyers to ‘roam the country in search of governmental wrongdoing,’" the court stated in its ruling.

Despite granting a victory to the administration on procedural grounds, the court's ruling did not endorse the State Department's actions. "We do not endorse the Department’s failure to open the lottery registration period," the judges wrote. The decision means the preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Jinsook Ohta cannot be enforced.

Former federal prosecutor Abhishek Kambli noted on X that the Ninth Circuit "corrected" the district court's decision by focusing on the issue of standing, emphasizing that the law firm was suing on its own behalf rather than on behalf of individuals in the visa lottery program.

President Donald Trump has previously expressed strong opposition to the Diversity Visa Program, calling for its end and advocating for a merit-based immigration system. During a 2018 State of the Union address, he described the lottery as a system that allows "the worst of the worst" into the country. Eligible countries for the 2026 lottery included Afghanistan, New Zealand, Ecuador, Iran, Uganda, Somalia, and Russia. The program aims to offer a pathway for individuals who may not qualify through traditional employment- or family-based immigration channels.