Two separate legal matters dominate any current search for a Sudan elections lawsuit, and they sit on opposite sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, a federal judge in Massachusetts has blocked the termination of Temporary Protected Status for South Sudanese nationals in African Communities Together v. Noem. Inside South Sudan, the country’s own national vote has been pushed to December 2026 against a backdrop of unfinished constitutional work, an earlier 2015 court challenge over election timing, and no completed voter roll. Neither track involves the Republic of Sudan to the north, whose terrorism-related litigation is a separate body of law noted briefly at the end.
The U.S. Lawsuit Blocking Termination of TPS for South Sudanese Nationals
On November 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it was ending Temporary Protected Status for South Sudan, stating that the country “no longer meets the criteria for an ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to the personal safety of returning South Sudanese nationals.” The termination was set to take effect January 5, 2026, and would have affected roughly 230 TPS holders and about 70 applicants with pending applications.1GBH News. Federal Judge Halts End of Protected Status for South Sudanese Migrants
South Sudan was first designated for TPS in October 2011, shortly after independence, and the designation was extended in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2022.2Federal Register. Extension of South Sudan Designation for Temporary Protected Status TPS shields designated nationals from deportation and authorizes them to work in the country.
The Plaintiffs and the Claim
The advocacy group African Communities Together, together with four individual South Sudanese TPS holders, sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The case is captioned African Communities Together et al. v. Noem et al., No. 25-cv-13939-PBS. Counsel includes Muslim Advocates, the Haitian Bridge Alliance, and Covington & Burling, with coordination by Communities United for Status and Protection.3Communities United for Status and Protection. South Sudan TPS
The complaint argues the termination was unlawful and procedurally deficient, driven by a blanket policy of ending every TPS designation rather than any real assessment of conditions in South Sudan.4African Communities Together. Government Must Answer Court in South Sudan TPS Lawsuit The plaintiffs also contend the government’s stated finding that South Sudan is safe “is not based on fact” given the ongoing humanitarian crisis and armed conflict.1GBH News. Federal Judge Halts End of Protected Status for South Sudanese Migrants
What the Court Has Ruled
On December 30, 2025, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley issued an emergency stay stopping the termination days before it was to take effect.1GBH News. Federal Judge Halts End of Protected Status for South Sudanese Migrants The court ordered the government to produce the administrative record supporting the termination by January 26, 2026.4African Communities Together. Government Must Answer Court in South Sudan TPS Lawsuit
On February 12, 2026, the court issued a fuller ruling placing the termination on hold indefinitely. The judge found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem violated the Administrative Procedure Act in three ways: adopting a blanket practice of terminating every TPS designation, offering pretextual reasons for the South Sudan termination specifically, and failing to meaningfully consult with the relevant government agencies before deciding. The court also found the plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm without the stay and that the balance of equities favored them.5Courthouse News Service. African Communities v. Noem Ruling
Where Things Stand
As of mid-2026, the litigation is still active and the stay is in force. South Sudanese TPS holders retain their protected status and their work authorization while the case proceeds.6USCIS. Update on Termination of Temporary Protected Status for South Sudan The federal government has sought to override the lower court’s ruling, characterizing it and similar TPS orders as defying Supreme Court guidance in related cases, and has pursued stays and emergency relief from higher courts.7Supreme Court of the United States. Noem v. Doe Application
South Sudan’s Elections and the Legal Vacuum Behind the Delay
South Sudan has never held a national election since independence in July 2011. Elections have been postponed at least five times: originally set for 2015, pushed to 2018, then 2021, then 2024, and most recently to December 2026 after signatories to the 2018 peace agreement formally agreed to a two-year extension in September 2024.8BTI Project. South Sudan Country Report The transitional period now runs through February 2027.9UN News. South Sudan Transition Extension The government still claims legitimacy based on 2010 elections held before independence, when the territory was part of a unified Sudan.
The Constitutional and Statutory Gaps
The Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS), signed in September 2018, required a permanent constitution before elections. Nearly eight years later, the constitution remains unfinished, the armed forces have not been unified, and the hybrid court promised to address wartime atrocities has not been created.10Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Taking Stock of the Revitalized Agreement11Council on Foreign Relations. Civil War in South Sudan
In December 2025 the government announced that elections would proceed without completing either a national census or the permanent constitution. Civil society groups argued the decision would make the vote “highly prone to abuse.”12Africa Center for Strategic Studies. South Sudan Elections 2026 The National Constitutional Review Commission is operational and has begun preliminary work, but observers say finalizing the text by December 2026 is unrealistic.13ConstitutionNet. What Does the Extension of the Transition Period Mean for Constitution Making in South Sudan
The National Elections Act of 2012 established the elections commission, set voter eligibility at age 18, and created a parallel system for legislative seats combining constituency races with proportional representation and reserved seats for women.14ACE Project. South Sudan Electoral Knowledge Network A 2023 amendment tried to update procedural rules but introduced what legal scholars describe as “significant ambiguities,” particularly around the allocation of parliamentary seats and the president’s power to appoint legislators.15PeaceRep. Now or Never
Operational Shortfalls
The last census was conducted in 2008, before independence, and voter registration has not been completed. The National Elections Commission told an African Union delegation in April 2026 that it lacks the financial and technical resources to conduct elections.16Amani Africa. PSC Field Mission Report on South Sudan A civil society leader described the commission’s state-level infrastructure as “largely neglected,” saying civic education, voter registration, and boundary demarcation had “not meaningfully begun” as of mid-2026.17Radio Tamazuj. No Election Readiness Despite $6M Funding
The government released $6 million to the commission for civic education and a new headquarters, but critics called it a token gesture designed to justify another extension of the transitional period.17Radio Tamazuj. No Election Readiness Despite $6M Funding International donors, including the United States, the European Union, and the regional body IGAD, said they will not provide financial support until the government makes substantive contributions of its own.16Amani Africa. PSC Field Mission Report on South Sudan
Security is a further barrier. More than two million people are internally displaced, with millions more sheltering as refugees in neighboring countries, and roughly 84 percent of the population — about 10 million people — requires humanitarian assistance.11Council on Foreign Relations. Civil War in South Sudan Observers warned as early as 2022 that national elections would likely “spark violence before, during and after the ballot.”8BTI Project. South Sudan Country Report
The unity government at the center of R-ARCSS has also unraveled. In March 2025 a militia from First Vice President Riek Machar’s ethnic Nuer community attacked a military base in Nasir, killing more than 250 soldiers. The government placed Machar under house arrest and charged him with treason and crimes against humanity along with 20 others. Machar’s spokesman called the charges a “political witch hunt.” The United Nations called the developments an “alarming regression that could erase years of hard-won progress.”18Deutsche Welle. South Sudan’s First Vice President Charged With Murder, Crimes Against Humanity
The Earlier 2015 Court Challenge Over Election Timing
The current delays are not the first time an election in South Sudan has been contested in court. In 2015, opposition parties led by the SPLM for Democratic Change filed a lawsuit in Juba’s High Court to delay elections then scheduled for June 30, 2015. They argued that holding the vote would violate the transitional constitution, which required a nationwide census before any election, and that the ballot could not be inclusive while parts of the country were engulfed in civil war. The High Court agreed to hear the case in February 2015, though the lawsuit became moot after regional mediators brokered a power-sharing arrangement that postponed the elections entirely.19Voice of America. South Sudan Legal Court Elections Delay
A Note on the Separate Sudan Terrorism Cases
Searches that pair “Sudan” with “lawsuit” often surface a different body of litigation involving the Republic of Sudan, the northern country, and its former designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. Those cases — including Republic of Sudan v. Harrison and Opati v. Republic of Sudan, along with the $335 million Claims Settlement Agreement of October 2020 and the Sudan Claims Resolution Act of December 2020 — concern the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, the USS Cole attack, and related claims.20U.S. Department of State. Receipt of Funds for Resolution of Certain Claims Against Sudan21Congressional Research Service. Sudan’s Sovereign Immunity and Terrorism-Related Litigation They have nothing to do with elections or with South Sudan, and they do not affect the TPS case or the South Sudan election timetable.