SCOTUS dismisses “sanctuary city” cases at Biden’s request

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) –
Following a request from the Biden administration, the US Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed three pending cases that would have tested the Trump administration’s effort to withhold law-enforcement funding from so-called “sanctuary” cities.

The cases dismissed by the Justices involved challenges to lower court decisions about the Trump administration’s plan to withdraw Justice Assistance Grants from local governments that refused to comply with new federal immigration policies. The cases pending had become moot as the Biden administration is not pursuing Trump’s plan to sanction these sanctuary jurisdictions.

While the term “sanctuary city” is a broad one, it generally describes local jurisdictions that implement policies to limit cooperation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These local policies are intended as an effort to combat what is perceived as overly aggressive federal immigration policies, particularly in respect of low priority illegal immigrants who have not committed crimes, and those arrested for minor, nonviolent crimes. The Trump administration had said the threat of withdrawal of funds for sanctuary jurisdictions was needed to protect US citizens from undocumented criminals.

Of the three cases dismissed, one was filed by Trump’s Department of Justice last year: in Wilkinson v. City and County of San Francisco, the DOJ had been seeking a review of a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the Trump administration had no authority to impose conditions on the grants. In the remaining two cases of New York v. Department of Justice and City of New York v. Department of Justice respectively, the State of New York and New York City were asking for reviews of 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals decisions upholding Trump’s policy.

“Local law enforcements’ ability to protect their jurisdictions should never be compromised to push an anti-immigrant agenda,” New York state Attorney General Letitia James told Fox News in a statement about the SCOTUS dismissal.

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