Attorney General Jay Jones filed a brief on Apr. 1 to defend the education benefits of Virginia veterans after years of denials by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The action comes as many long-serving veterans in Virginia and across the country have faced limits on their GI Bill education benefits, an issue that has been subject to multiple court rulings. According to Jones, “Virginia’s veterans have kept their promise to this country through years of service, sacrifice, and deployments around the world. The federal government had a duty to keep its promise to them.” He said that previous rules defended by the Trump administration denied some veterans their full earned benefits: “Instead, the Trump administration and Secretary Doug Collins defended rules that cheated some of the longest-serving veterans in America out of the education benefits they earned. We will fight to ensure every eligible veteran receives the education benefits Congress has guaranteed and the courts have now confirmed.”
The legal dispute centers on how much educational assistance is available for those qualifying under both Montgomery GI Bill and Post-9/11 GI Bill programs. For about fifteen years, Department of Veterans Affairs regulations limited these combined benefits below what Congress intended.
In April 2024, a Supreme Court decision in Rudisill v. McDonough ruled that eligible veterans could use up to 48 months of combined educational assistance from both programs. However, following this decision, VA issued guidance requiring a break in service for full eligibility—leaving continuously serving long-term veterans with only 36 months while others with separate service periods could access all 48 months.
This interpretation was struck down by the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in May 2025 through Perkins v. Collins; yet VA continued applying its previous approach despite these rulings.
Virginia joined other states, individual claimants, and national organizations such as Veterans of Foreign Wars and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in challenging these policies at federal level litigation.
Attorneys general nationwide have argued successfully that VA lacks statutory authority for such limitations; up to 2.2 million U.S. veterans may be affected according to recent estimates tied directly or indirectly with these cases.
Recently VA announced it would stop denying certain continuously serving veterans’ claims but not all disputed issues are resolved—a point Attorney General Jones highlighted: he said further work remains so every eligible veteran can receive full congressional entitlements.
