By Suzanne Monyak

Law360 (June 17, 2020, 4:40 PM EDT) -- A California federal judge ruled Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Education's guidance blocking coronavirus aid for foreign students is likely unconstitutional, temporarily barring the government from imposing those eligibility requirements at California community colleges.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found that the Education Department had exceeded its authority when it imposed eligibility restrictions on the $12.56 billion in relief funds for students provided by Congress in the coronavirus aid bill, likely violating the U.S. Constitution's separation of powers doctrine and the spending clause.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos had issued guidance preventing students who are not eligible for federal financial aid grants, including beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, veterans and students with disabilities, from accessing the funds.

"With respect to the students, the harm is significant," Judge Rogers said. "DoE's interpretation of the CARES Act would exclude hundreds of thousands of students — including those in low-income communities and communities of color, which have been affected disproportionately by COVID-19 — from receiving [Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund] student assistance."

The judge's ruling comes just days after a federal judge in Washington state had similarly blocked the Education Department from enforcing some of the restrictions on community colleges there, finding that the department had likely exceeded its authority in imposing the limits.

However, that judge stopped short of lifting those restrictions for foreign students, finding that the government had made a "compelling argument" that another law stating that certain foreign citizens are ineligible for federal public benefits meant foreign students could be barred from this latest relief package.

"Two federal judges in the same circuit are split on this issue, and we fully expect to prevail on appeal," Angela Morabito, press secretary for the DOE, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Congress passed the  Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act in late March, greenlighting $2 trillion in relief measures for individuals and businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing shutdowns, including nearly $13 billion in emergency student assistance. Around $580 million was given to California community colleges, according to court filings.

But a month later, DeVos issued guidance indicating that student DACA recipients — known as Dreamers — and other foreign students would not be eligible for the funding because they are ineligible for financial aid. The department said that only students eligible for financial aid under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 would receive the emergency grants.

The department later issued a formal rule with the restrictions in June.

The California community colleges sued the department in May, arguing that Congress had intended for schools to have flexibility when dispersing those relief funds.

The federal government countered that Congress in fact "had the Title IV framework in mind" when crafting the legislation, pointing to its use of terms found in the bill. The government also claimed that because Congress didn't specifically define "student" in the bill, Title IV's definition should apply.

However, Judge Rogers found Wednesday that the federal government's claims that Congress intended Title IV to govern were "tenuous at best," and that "the meaning of the word 'student' is plain."

"Defendants have manufactured ambiguity where none exists by imposing their own restrictions on the definition of 'student,' thereby rendering the meaning of the term inconsistent within HEERF itself," she wrote.

The judge also said she wasn't persuaded by the government's arguments that the coronavirus relief funds are the same as "federal public benefits" for which foreign citizens may not be eligible.

A representative for the California Attorney General's Office didn't immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday.

The community colleges are represented by the California Attorney General's Office.

The government is represented by Michael Andrew Zee of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division.

The case is Oakley et al. v. DeVos et al., case number 4:20-cv-03215, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

--Editing by Adam LoBelia.

Update: This story has been updated with comment from the DOE and additional details.

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