California Sues Sessions Over Sanctuary Cities Policy

Steven D. Schwinn, John Marshall Law School

The State of California earlier this week joined Chicago and San Francisco in suing the federal government over DOJ's "sanctuary cities" policy. Our latest post, on Chicago's suit, is here.

California argues that its laws do not violate Section 1373 (they only limit detention beyond the scheduled release date in certain circumstances and require notification to the detainee of any ICE detention or interview request); that only Congress (and not DOJ) has authority to impose the Section 1373-condition on federal grants; that the condition doesn't provide clear notification to the state; and that DOJ's condition is unconstitutional (because it could require detention for 48 hours, and could violate the Fourth Amendment).