CALIFORNIA/IMMIGRATION/JEFF SESSIONS/LEGAL/SANCTUARY CITIES: “California’s three new ‘sanctuary’ laws, challenged in court this week by the Trump administration, face different hurdles and have varying vulnerabilities, legal experts said Wednesday [3-7-18].
Law professors who read the lawsuit filed by Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions generally described it as a credible challenge that presents complex legal questions that might wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court… The federal government has wide authority over matters of immigration, and Sessions has charged that California’s new laws usurp or preempt federal rules.
The supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution says federal law takes precedence over state laws, and Sessions’ suit accuses California’s new regulations of violating that provision…
Federal district judges have decided in favor of cities with ordinances that limit law enforcement’s cooperation with immigration agents, and the Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government may not commandeer states into becoming the enforcement agents of federal law… Sessions filed the lawsuit in a federal court in Sacramento, a more conservative district than those in San Francisco and Los Angeles. But the district court’s rulings will likely be appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has a majority of judges appointed by Democrats.
Johnson said Sessions probably chose to file in Sacramento for political, not legal, reasons.”
-Maura Dolan, “Some of the California ‘sanctuary’ laws targeted by feds could be vulnerable, legal experts say,” The Los Angeles Times online, Mar. 8, 2018 05:00am