‘May not proceed with the coercive threat’: Judge warns Trump against ‘end run’ around injunction — earlier order controls similar efforts to defund ‘sanctuary’ cities

A national justice connected Friday cautioned the Trump administration not to effort and execute an “end run” astir a tribunal bid barring the authorities from slashing funds to alleged “sanctuary” jurisdictions.

In the underlying litigation, the plaintiffs, led by San Francisco, sued President Donald Trump and others implicit 2 enforcement orders — “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” and “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders” — issued successful January and February, respectively, which threatened to chopped disconnected each national funds for jurisdictions deemed to tally afoul of national migration priorities.

On April 24, Senior U.S. District Judge William Orrick, a Barack Obama appointee, bemoaned the authorities of affairs arsenic thing of a rerun.

In a preliminary injunction, the justice likened the latest backing threats to a bid of likewise kiboshed threats issued during the archetypal Trump medication — and blocked them again, reasoning the plaintiffs had a well-founded fearfulness of enforcement warranting an injunction.

Then, a fewer days passed.

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On April 28, Trump issued what the plaintiffs, successful a motion to enforce the injunction, termed “yet another” enforcement bid “which triples down connected his menace to defund ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions.”

Quick motions signifier ensued, with the authorities filing a motion successful opposition. An expedited proceeding was held earlier this week.

On Friday, successful a 6-page bid clarifying the preliminary injunction, Orrick framed the contented arsenic a question — and past answered it.

“How volition the litigation implicit sanctuary cities and national backing unfold during the adjacent 4 years?” the justice asked. “First, the litigation whitethorn not proceed with the coercive menace to extremity each national backing hanging implicit the Cities and Counties’ heads similar the sword of Damocles.”

Such threats, the justice said, were “explicit” successful the earlier enforcement orders — arsenic good arsenic an implementing directive issued by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi — “and that is wherefore they are enjoined.”

The judge’s bid attempts to onslaught a balance, however, stressing that portion the authorities “must proceed wrong the bounds of the Constitution,” the injunction is not meant to intrude connected oregon artifact different attempts by the Trump medication “to place peculiar grants and backing programs that it believes should beryllium conditioned upon compliance with immigration-related objectives.”

To that end, Orrick says the entirety of the latest enforcement bid is not “improper.”

To marque this point, the justice highlights a conception wherever Trump directs Bondi, successful coordination with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, to “publish a database of States and section jurisdictions they person identified arsenic ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions, and to notify those jurisdictions of their presumption connected the list.”

Similarly, the justice says, a conception of the caller bid directing officials to “identify due Federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions, including grants and contracts, for suspension oregon termination” mightiness besides walk muster — though helium cautions this request comes “closer” to being verboten nether the preliminary injunction.

But adjacent then, if this is conscionable different list-making directive, the justice says, cataloging of could-be-withheld funds is acceptable.

“Identification of the funds the Government believes are astatine contented would, if done successful a constitutionally targeted way, supply clarity,” Orrick muses. “The request to place funds for imaginable rescission, by itself, is not inappropriate, pursuing an valuation of the benignant of backing progressive to find if determination is simply a nexus betwixt the backing stream, the jurisdiction’s policies, and the desired immigration-related conditions, arsenic the Government is constitutionally obligated to bash earlier it acts.”

And a list, the authorities says successful their response, is each the caller bid truly calls for. Still, the justice says not conscionable immoderate database volition work.

From the order, astatine length:

What would beryllium inappropriate is if the criterion for recognition of funds for “suspension oregon termination” was the information that the alleged “sanctuary” jurisdictions received them. If the Government were to instrumentality the unconstitutional attack of flagging each national funds (or funds unrelated to sanctuary policies) to those States and localities the Attorney General and DHS Secretary determined to beryllium “sanctuary” jurisdictions arsenic being “appropriate” for suspension oregon termination, it would interruption Constitution successful the aforesaid mode that the enjoined sections of EO 14,159 and EO 14,218 do. That attack would interruption the Preliminary Injunction.

The justice goes connected to accidental “the context” surrounding the caller bid and the earlier ones suggests the authorities mightiness usage the database “to unconstitutionally coerce” the jurisdictions astatine contented “into changing their policies and practices to conform with the 2nd Trump Administration’s preferences.”

Such actions would spell beyond simply making a constricted database that clarifies migration priorities, the tribunal determined.

In clarifying the injunction, the justice says his earlier bid has an highly wide scope implicit apt objectionable conduct.

“The Preliminary Injunction successful this lawsuit reaches immoderate consequent Executive Order oregon Government enactment that poses the aforesaid coercive menace to destruct oregon suspend national backing based connected the Government’s assertion that a jurisdiction is simply a ‘sanctuary’ jurisdiction,” Orrick writes. “In airy of each these considerations, I clarify that neither Executive Order 14,287 nor immoderate different Government enactment that postdates the Preliminary Injunction tin beryllium utilized arsenic an extremity tally astir the Preliminary Injunction Order.”