January 31, 2017

Lawless Sanctuary Cities Look to the Courts

City officials vow to fight Trump’s executive order.

President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to cut off federal funding to unrepentant “sanctuary cities” may run into more than a few judicial obstacles. Several of the largest offenders such as New York City and San Francisco vow to fight the order, with Democratic San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee stating, “I believe in our sanctuary-city status, I think there are hundreds of mayors all over this country that are saying the same thing.”

The focus surrounding Trump’s executive order question its constitutionality, specifically, whether or not it violates laws against federal coercion. The federal government is barred from coercing state officials into doing the job of the federal government. Several are arguing that Trump’s recent executive order to withhold federal funding as a punitive measure against those unrepentant sanctuary cities constitutes coercion. As recently as 2012, the Supreme Court ruled against the previous administration when it tried to withhold federal funding of Medicaid from those states that refused to expand their eligibility programs in support of the (Un)Affordable Care Act. As Dale Carpenter, a constitutional professor from Southern Methodist University, states, “If the denial of Medicaid funding alone was coercive, the denial of all federal funding of any kind for refusing to cooperate in enforcement of immigration law must be coercive.”

David Rivkin a lawyer who served in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations doesn’t think it is coercive. He notes that it is the job of the federal government to enforce the law and notes instances where the court ruled in favor of the government insisting upon, “requiring state officials to assist in the enforcement of federal statutes regulating private individuals.” He continued that, “it’s not [like Trump is] telling city officials to carry out any particular actions.”

So, the nation may have to put up with these rogue sanctuary cities for quite some time, unfortunately. How ironic it is that these bastions of lawlessness display so much disdain for Rule of Law and yet seek defense in the courts. If Law applies to all but one, then it holds justice for none.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.