Third Circuit
Federal appeals court for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the Virgin Islands.
The Third Circuit's 2019 ruling against immigration conditions on Byrne JAG police grants is the closest appellate precedent for Judge Amir Ali's decision of 28 September 2026, which voided election conditions on FEMA counterterrorism grants.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026
Timeline for Third Circuit
Mentioned in: Judge Ali voids FEMA election conditions
US Midterms 2026Background
The Third Circuit's grant-conditions law came back into view on 28 September 2026, when Judge Amir Ali struck down election conditions that FEMA had attached to counterterrorism grants. States stood to lose a fifth of that money unless they used a federal citizenship-check database and audited paper ballots by hand. The Third Circuit set its own rule on such conditions in City of Philadelphia v. Attorney General on 15 February 2019. It held that the Justice Department had unlawfully imposed three immigration conditions on Byrne JAG police grants. Judge Marjorie Rendell wrote for a panel with Judges Ambro and Scirica, affirming the injunction protecting Philadelphia while vacating one part of the order as too broad.
the Court hears federal appeals from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the US Virgin Islands. It sits in Philadelphia with 14 authorised judgeships, and Michael A. Chagares is chief judge.
Pennsylvania's place as a perennial swing state gives the Court weight in election law: federal disputes over its ballots, rolls and districts are appealed here before they can reach the Supreme Court.