Campaign Action
According to the AP, a federal judge has blocked Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s effort to withholding federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities unless they cooperate with Donald Trump’s mass deportation force, often in unconstitutional ways. This is a BFD:
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber on Friday granted Chicago’s request for a temporary “nationwide” injunction. That means the Justice Department can’t deny requests for the grant money until Chicago’s lawsuit against the agency is concluded. He wrote that Chicago has shown a “likelihood of success” in its arguments that Sessions overstepped his authority with the requirements.
Chicago refused to comply with the Justice Department’s demand that it allow immigration agents access to local jails and notify agents when someone in the United States illegally is about to be released from custody.
Bloomberg:
“The court finds that the city has established that it would suffer irreparable harm if a preliminary injunction is not entered,” U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber said in his ruling. The injunction is “nationwide in scope,” Leinenweber said, “there being no reason to think that the legal issues present in this case are restricted to Chicago
Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, stood to lose its Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant -- which last year was $2.3 million -- for failing to comply with the Justice Department’s conditions. Total funding for such grants this year was $383.5 million, according to the Justice Department.
“San Francisco, Los Angeles and the state of California also sued the federal government over the threat of losing Byrne grants,” notes Bloomberg.