August 14th, 2025 - Virginia Takes Action in U.S. Federal Court to Guarantee Veteran Education Benefits

Virginia Takes Action in U.S. Federal Court to Guarantee Veteran Education Benefits

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares today filed a case against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) asking the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to ensure that the VA is complying with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Rudisill v McDonough, which guaranteed veterans full education benefits under both the Montgomery G.I. Bill and Post-9/11 G.I. Bills.

“Veterans who qualify for benefits should receive their full benefits — full stop,” said Attorney General Jason Miyares.  “The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that veterans who are eligible for the Montgomery and Post-9/11 G.I. Bills are entitled to their full benefits.  Not partial, but full.  We believe we are correct on the merits and look forward to an amicable resolution on behalf of those who have served.”

Joining Virginia as co-plaintiffs are the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and individual veterans, including James Rudisill—the veteran who brought his case all the way to the Supreme Court but has not yet received his full benefits.

In 2023, Attorney General Miyares led two multistate coalitions urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear and affirm the claim for benefits brought by Rudisill—a Virginia resident and decorated army veteran. In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mr. Rudisill, guaranteeing qualifying veterans a combined 48 months of education benefits.

Despite the Supreme Court’s clear holding, however, the VA has continued to take a cramped reading of the GI Bills, denying benefits to large swaths of qualified veterans.

In one example, a decorated Virginia Army veteran who served nearly 24 years, including deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo, was denied his full G.I. Bill education benefits. The denial prevented him from transferring those benefits to his daughter for her law school tuition.

In March 2025 and again in June 2025, Attorney General Miyares led a bipartisan coalition of all 50 states supporting the veteran’s claim. Last month, the VA agreed in principle to restore the veteran’s individual benefit without extending this restoration to other veterans.

Because the VA’s unduly restrictive reading of both the statutes and the Supreme Court’s clear directive in Rudisill affects numerous other veterans, Virginia, individual veterans, and two veterans’ organizations brought this challenge to the guidance used by the VA to wrongfully deny benefits to qualified veterans.

Read the filing here.

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