SCOTT SIMON: Many who had been told they had won told their children, quit their jobs, got married, or sold their homes to get ready to make new lives here. Thirty-six people filed suit to get the State Department to uphold the results. This week, District Judge Amy Berman Jackson offered sympathy for the pain and loss of those who were misinformed. But she said the government was right to invalidate the drawing, because the 22,000 informed that they had won were not a good random sample, which was the design in a lottery. There are 19 million more stories, many of which may be equally or even more compelling, the judge wrote. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said, the American government has lost credibility - promising 22,000 individuals the right to proceed with the immigration process and then snatching away that hope and promise.
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