The Supreme Court on October 19 invited the Solicitor General to file a brief giving the federal government’s views in Bird v. Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice, a challenge to Iowa’s blocked immigration law. The order does not decide the case or say whether the Court will hear it.
What Iowa’s immigration law does
Iowa Senate File 2340, signed April 10, 2024, makes it a state crime for noncitizens who were previously deported or denied entry to live in Iowa. It lets state and local officers make arrests and requires state judges to order those people to leave the country, according to the American Immigration Council, which represents the challengers. A federal court blocked the law on June 17, 2024, before it took effect.
How the Iowa case reached the Supreme Court
The Iowa Migrant Movement for Justice and two individuals sued to stop the law. The Eighth Circuit upheld the injunction on October 23, 2025 and denied rehearing on February 4, 2026, according to the Supreme Court docket. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird filed a petition asking the justices to review the decision on July 2, 2026.
The Justice Department had earlier sued to block the law in a separate case. After the department dropped that case in 2025, the Eighth Circuit dismissed Iowa’s appeal in it and vacated the injunction. The challenge brought by the advocacy group and individuals continued. Several amicus briefs supporting Iowa were filed on August 12, including from Oklahoma and other states.
What the Solicitor General invitation means
When the Court invites the Solicitor General to file, it is asking for the federal government’s position before it decides whether to take a case. The Court has not said whether it will grant review. For how the Court decides which cases to hear, see our explainer on Supreme Court immigration cases.
Other state-level enforcement efforts are also in court. Our report on Tennessee’s joint ICE traffic stops covers a separate challenge.