On February 10, Chief Judge Virginia M. Kendall of the United
States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued
a Memorandum Opinion and Order resolving
cross-motions for summary judgment concerning the Illinois
Interchange Fee Prohibition Act. The court granted a permanent
injunction blocking enforcement of the Act's data usage
limitation, while allowing the interchange fee restriction to take
effect July 1, 2026.
In its merits analysis, the court concluded that the data usage
limitation directly conflicts with federally authorized banking
powers and is therefore preempted under the National Bank Act and
related federal statutes. By contrast, the court determined that
the interchange fee restriction does not "significantly
interfere" with national banking powers under the Supreme
Court's Barnett Bank standard because payment card networks,
rather than banks themselves, establish interchange fee schedules.
The court described the matter as a close