Last Updated on March 5, 2021
In a move that reaffirms President Biden’s open-borders immigration policy, the US Supreme Court has dismissed three pending requests brought by “sanctuary states” to hear challenges to the Trump administration’s order that withheld federal tax dollars from those jurisdictions.
The SCOTUSblog, an online organization that tracks the actions of the Supreme Court, tweeted, “After a request from the Biden administration yesterday, the Supreme Court just dismissed three pending cert petitions (requests to hear a case) about the Trump administration’s effort to withhold money from so-called sanctuary cities.”
NEW: After a request from the Biden administration yesterday, the Supreme Court just dismissed three pending cert petitions (requests to hear a case) about the Trump administration’s effort to withhold money from so-called sanctuary cities.
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) March 5, 2021
In an executive order from 2017, then-President Trump called on US agencies – both law enforcement and otherwise – to withhold federal funds from sanctuary jurisdictions. The overwhelming majority of these jurisdictions are governed by Democrats.
Mr. Trump’s policy made federal taxpayer dollars to state and local governments conditional on whether they cooperated with US immigration officials in the execution of their duties as mandated by federal law.
Prior to bringing their actions before the High Court, lawyers from the several sanctuary jurisdictions found the lower courts divided on whether Mr. Trump’s policy was lawful.
Upon entering office, President Biden unleashed a flurry of executive orders reversing Mr. Trump’s policies. His policy regarding sanctuary jurisdictions was one of them.
President Biden’s decision to revoke Mr. Trump’s sanctuary jurisdiction order rendered the issue moot and the Department of Justice filed request letters with the Supreme Court in all the cases related to the matter seeking their dismissal.
#SCOTUS Sells Sanctuary: The Supreme Court dismissed a number of cases testing the Trump administration’s plan to withhold law-enforcement grants from “sanctuary cities” https://t.co/bOoq0CJNoD via @WSJ
— Jess Bravin (@JessBravin) March 5, 2021
The three cases at issue in the High Court’s dismissals involved New York City, San Francisco, and several states including California and New York.
New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James (D), issued a statement saying, “We’re pleased that despite the Trump administration’s attempts to exact revenge on cities and states through vindictive policies and continued litigation that we were able to work with the Biden administration to dismiss this case in the Supreme Court.”
“We look forward to continuing to work with the administration to ensure state and localities never have to choose between protecting their autonomy and protecting the public’s safety,” James said.
