A New Mexico judge threw out a lawsuit challenging the state’s universal child care program on Thursday, ruling that the fight was moot after lawmakers funded the initiative earlier this year. The decision leaves the program in place for families who have already been using it since its launch.
Judge Elaine Lujan of the 2nd Judicial District sided with state officials and rejected the case filed in April by Duke Rodriguez, former Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Lanier and Rio Rancho businessman Zachary Anaya. They had asked the court to upend the program, arguing the state rolled out rules making child care assistance universal and free before the Legislature approved money for it.
Rodriguez filed the suit in April, months after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced in September that she wanted child care to be universally accessible and after the program launched in November. Thousands of children and families have used it since then, turning the case into more than a legal dispute. It became a test of whether the state could keep expanding a new benefit while the courts weighed how it was created and funded.
The state said the lawsuit had no practical effect once lawmakers reached a funding deal during this year’s legislative session. Officials also pointed to legislative fiscal analyses that found the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department began overspending almost immediately. In a social media post Thursday afternoon, Lujan Grisham called the case a frivolous challenge and said the program will continue to serve New Mexico families.
The plaintiffs saw it differently. They argued the governor overstepped her authority by trying to make universal child care happen before the law and the budget were fully aligned. Michael Coleman said the lawsuit had caused New Mexico’s working families undue worry about whether they could keep relying on the program, while attorney Jacob Candelaria called the ruling a setback but said his clients would appeal to the state Supreme Court. Rodriguez said Thursday’s loss did not settle the bigger fight, adding that winning the day did not mean the governor would win the final debate.
That appeal will now decide whether the challenge ends with a procedural loss or whether New Mexico’s highest court will take up the bigger question behind it: how far a governor can go in launching a major child care program before lawmakers finish the work of paying for it.
