Wednesday, 30 April 2025

JUST IN: Obama-Appointed Federal Judge Blocks President Trump’s Sanctuary City Executive Order

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A federal judge issued an injunction blocking the Trump administration’s executive order to prohibit federal funds from going to places considered sanctuary jurisdictions.

U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick, who was nominated to the Northern District of California by Barack Obama, said the executive orders to “withhold, freeze, or condition federal funding apportioned to localities by Congress, violate the Constitution’s separation of powers principles and the Spending Clause.”

President Trump issued executive orders instructing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to withhold federal funds from ‘sanctuary cities’ that do not cooperate with federal immigration law.

 

Orrick wrote that the executive orders’ directives “violate the Tenth Amendment because they impose coercive condition intended to commandeer local officials into enforcing federal immigration practices and law.”

“They also violate the Fifth Amendment to the extent they are unconstitutionally vague and violate due process,” he added.

Per NBC News:

The Trump executive orders and a related directive from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi had been challenged by the city of San Francisco and 15 other cities and counties from across the country.

Orrick had blocked a similar effort by Trump during his first term in office, finding that his executive order was “unconstitutional” and that the plaintiffs “faced irreparable harm absent an injunction.” “Here we are again,” the judge wrote.

The Justice Department appealed Orrick’s earlier decision in 2017, but his ruling was upheld by the appeals court.

A different federal appeals court, however, ruled in a separate suit that the Trump administration can indeed withhold “grants” to sanctuary cities.

The issue was going to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021, but the Biden Justice Department dropped the appeal and the matter was dismissed.

Sanctuary cities or states are not official terms – the labels refer to a state, city, county or municipality that has enacted laws that either explicitly or effectively prevent or limit local officials from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

Fox News reports:

Most of the plaintiffs are jurisdiction in California. They are the city and county of San Francisco, Santa Clara County, Monterey County and the cities of Oakland, Emeryville, San Jose, San Diego, Sacramento and Santa Cruz.

Portland, Oregon; New Haven, Connecticut; Minneapolis and St. Paul, both of Minnesota; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and King County – where Seattle is located in Washington state – are also in the lawsuit.

“The Cities and Counties have also demonstrated a likelihood of irreparable harm,” the judge said. “The threat to withhold funding causes them irreparable injury in the form of budgetary uncertainty, deprivation of constitutional rights, and undermining trust between the Cities and Counties and the communities they serve.”

In granting the “sanctuary” jurisdictions a preliminary injunction, Orrick wrote that “defendants and their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and any other persons who are in active concert or participation with them ARE HEREBY RESTRAINED AND ENJOINED from directly or indirectly taking any action to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funds.”

The judge ordered the Trump administration to provide written notice of the court order to all federal departments and agencies by Monday, April 28.

Read the full ruling HERE.


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