On August 9, 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco dismissed a challenge to Proposition 200, an initiative adopted in November 2004 by Arizona voters and designed to deter illegal aliens from collecting welfare benefits. The decision was a victory for WLF, which has been defending the law on behalf of Protect Arizona Now (PAN), the group that sponsored Proposition 200 and arranged to have it placed on the ballot. A federal district court in Tucson last December issued a ruling upholding Proposition 200, denying an injunction sought by a group of plaintiffs led by MALDEF (the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund). MALDEF appealed that ruling to the Ninth Circuit, which did not even reach the merits of MALDEF’s appeal. Rather, it ruled that the plaintiffs lacked “standing” to challenge Proposition 200, because they had not demonstrated that they faced a “genuine threat” of being injured by the law.