Justice Department plans to join Texas suit against Planned Parenthood

As of 7:11 p.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026

The U.S. Justice Department plans to ask a federal judge in Texas to let it join a long-running lawsuit accusing Planned Parenthood of improperly billing and keeping Medicaid payments, according to a court filing.

"The United States is planning to file a motion to intervene by November 13, 2026," says a joint status report filed Friday, Nov. 6, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, according to the court docket. Justice Department lawyers filed a notice of appearance in the case the same day. As of Monday, the publicly available docket on CourtListener showed no motion to intervene yet and no ruling on one.

The Planned Parenthood defendants "reserve all rights with respect to any intervention, including in opposing intervention," the report says.

What the lawsuit alleges

The case was filed in 2021 by an anonymous whistleblower under the federal False Claims Act, and Texas, under Attorney General Ken Paxton, joined it, Reuters reported. The suit accuses Planned Parenthood of continuing to bill and collect payments from the Texas and Louisiana Medicaid programs after the states' initial decisions to cut off its funding, and of failing to repay that money once the terminations took effect, Reuters said.

Planned Parenthood has said billing the states while their termination decisions were paused by courts was legal, and the national organization says it cannot be held liable because it was giving legal advice to affiliates, according to Reuters. Planned Parenthood has called the lawsuit "meritless," The Texas Tribune reported.

The Tribune reported that the case concerns about $10 million in Medicaid payments and that the state is seeking more than $1.8 billion in reimbursement, penalties and fees. Planned Parenthood has said it would be forced to shut down in Texas if it loses, Reuters reported.

Planned Parenthood: 'bully'

In a statement Saturday, Planned Parenthood Federation of America said the administration would be joining plaintiffs who are suing Planned Parenthood organizations "for more than $1.8 billion to try to shut them down."

"They want to bully Planned Parenthood out of business. We're going to fight this every step of the way, including at trial," said Susan Baker Manning, the federation's senior vice president of legal and general counsel.

Paxton's office did not immediately comment to the Tribune.

Case back on track after nearly three-year pause

The case had been on hold since January 2024 while the national organization appealed a ruling denying it immunity from the suit. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit unanimously dismissed that appeal on Aug. 12 for lack of jurisdiction, and U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk lifted the stay on Oct. 6, the status report says.

In October 2023, Kacsmaryk ruled that three Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates had a legal obligation to return overpayments they received, while granting the national organization summary judgment on the so-called reverse false claims and denying summary judgment in all other respects, according to the report.

The parties jointly proposed that trial begin April 13, 2027, and estimated it would take seven days, the filing says. The publicly available docket showed no trial date set as of Monday. The report also says the United States does not intend to file a separate complaint if it intervenes.