Three University of Texas professors have filed an action in federal court in a bid to halt a state law that lets people with concealed handgun licences bring pistols into classrooms, saying the measure would have a chilling effect on academic freedom.

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear US president Barack Obama’s attempt to resurrect his plan to shield more than 4m illegal immigrants from deportation, a unilateral executive action he took in 2014 to bypass the Republican-led Congress.