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Trump can't withhold funds from 'sanctuary' cities, federal judge says
U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick said a presidential executive order violates the Constitution’s separation-of-powers principles and spending clause.
https://bsky.app/profile/dgwoods.bsky.social/post/3lnlk5jhguc2z
Link to tweet
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/24/federal-judge-blocks-trump-withholding-funds-sanctuary-cities/
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from pulling federal funds from San Francisco, Santa Clara County, and 14 other cities and counties it deems “sanctuary jurisdictions,” handing another legal blow to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick of the Northern District of California granted the preliminary injunction and in his order cited a similar executive action from the Trump administration in 2017 — which Orrick also presided over and blocked — that attempted to halt funds and was found to be unconstitutional nationwide.
Orrick referred to precedent in that ruling and in his order said again that such spending powers are constitutionally vested in Congress. He said attempts by the president to place conditions on federal funds violate the separation of powers.
The administration is restrained and enjoined “from directly or indirectly taking any action to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funds from the Cities and Counties,” Orrick wrote, mandating that the Trump administration “provide written notice of this Order to all federal departments and agencies” by Monday......
In siding with the plaintiffs, Orrick also agreed that 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.”
U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick of the Northern District of California granted the preliminary injunction and in his order cited a similar executive action from the Trump administration in 2017 — which Orrick also presided over and blocked — that attempted to halt funds and was found to be unconstitutional nationwide.
Orrick referred to precedent in that ruling and in his order said again that such spending powers are constitutionally vested in Congress. He said attempts by the president to place conditions on federal funds violate the separation of powers.
The administration is restrained and enjoined “from directly or indirectly taking any action to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funds from the Cities and Counties,” Orrick wrote, mandating that the Trump administration “provide written notice of this Order to all federal departments and agencies” by Monday......
In siding with the plaintiffs, Orrick also agreed that 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.”