A Federal Judge Just Blocked Trump's Order on Sanctuary Cities

A federal court just blocked Trump's executive order that calls for restricted funding to so-called sanctuary cities, the Associated Press reports. Judge William Orrick of the Northern California District Court issued a temporary injunction on Tuesday, calling the order unconstitutional under the Tenth Amendment, which prohibits the federal government from meddling in state law. 

The decision is a blow to President Trump, who is approaching 100 days in office and has so far failed to deliver on a number of his signature campaign promises. Throughout the election, he vowed to penalize sanctuary cities—municipalities that are noncompliant with federal immigration officials—and on January 25, he issued an order called "Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States." The order said that cities like New York and Los Angeles were responsible for "immeasurable harm to the American people and to the fabric of our Republic" and called for federal agencies to strip some of their funding.

Since then, at least five cities have sued the government claiming that they could be denied a potentially crippling amount of money. Suits from San Francisco and Santa Clara county were heard Monday in a joint hearing where lawyers centered their arguments around ambiguity––what exactly a "sanctuary city" constitutes, and how much money could be taken from them. 

The attorneys for San Francisco and Santa Clara county also said the executive order was forcing government officials into making a terrible choice––enforcing an order they thought was unconstitutional or to violating the constitutional rights of people they were being asked to detain.

Judge Orrick apparently didn't take too long to land on a ruling after hearing Monday's arguments, and said that the order unnecessarily infringed on local governments' rights. Meanwhile, Trump's other blocked executive order––his controversial travel ban––remains stalled in court.

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