Unemployment Cut-Off Suits Swipe at States’ Power to Abandon Aid

Lawsuits challenging the early end of federal enhanced unemployment benefits point to a possible limitation on state officials’ authority over their jobless aid programs—the states’ own decades-old statutes.

Cases filed in Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, and Texas challenge governors’ authority to end federal pandemic benefits early. Congress scheduled the federal assistance to sunset in September, but governors in at least 26 states have chosen to terminate them sooner. Plaintiffs have won temporary orders in Indiana and Maryland requiring the benefits to continue.

The lawyers bringing these suits interpret state law as requiring governors and/or state workforce agencies to cooperate with ...