Federal Court Blocks Trump Executive Order Denying Federal Funds to Sanctuary Cities
During Donald Trump’s first term, federal courts repeatedly struck down his efforts to pressure immigration “sanctuary” jurisdictions by pulling federal grants, and other coercive measures. Last November, I predicted we would see a repeat of this pattern under Trump 2.0.
That prediction (which was not a hard one to make) began to be vindicated today, as federal district Judge William Orrick issued a ruling blocking the federal government from withholding federal funds from San Francisco and fifteen other sanctuary jurisdictions which had filed suit challenging a Trump executive order to that effect.
As Judge Orrick notes in his ruling, the new anti-sanctuary executive order is similar to an earlier 2017 Trump EO, and is unconstitutional for the same reasons:
In 2017, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13,768 (“EO 13,768”), titled
“Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States,” which was directed at so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions.” The City and County of San Francisco and County of Santa Clara sued, arguing that Section 9 of EO 13,768 was unconstitutional. I found that they had pre-enforcement standing, that they were likely to succeed on the merits because Section 9(a) of EO 13,768 was unconstitutional, and that they faced irreparable harm absent an injunction. I enjoined Section 9(a) of EO 13,768. The Ninth Circuit affirmed. Cnty. of Santa Clara v. Trump, et al., 250 F. Supp. 3d 497 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 25, 2017) (Preliminary Injunction Order), aff’d, 897 F.3d 1225 (9th Cir. 2018).Here we are again. Shortly after taking office in 2025, President Trump issued Executive Orders 14,159 (“Protecting the American People Against Invasion”) (“EO 14,159”) and 14,218 (“Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders”) (“EO
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