Last month, the federal Department of Justice threatened a lawsuit if the state did not comply.

First, the state must have "complied with the procedures set forth in the Act."

The directive contains a number of key principles with which member states must comply.

Today's ruling says that the state hasn't complied with the court order.

With millions of dollars at stake, at least 36 states have already complied.

"We found that states were not complying with these requirements."

Now that it has become law, the president may have to force some states to comply.

If the state would but comply, vouchers would be unnecessary.

Federal officials said they had no immediate estimate of how much it would cost states to comply.

In that case, every state complied before the deadline.