SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera revealed on Wednesday, August 1 that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found President Donald Trump’s executive order to take federal funding from sanctuary jurisdictions unconstitutional.

“This is why we have courts. When a president overreaches and tries to assert authority he doesn’t have under the Constitution, there needs to be a check on that power grab. The courts did that today, which is exactly what the framers of the Constitution had in mind.  We are a nation of laws, and no one is above the law, not even the president.

This is a victory for the rule of law. The Constitution is clear: Congress has the power of the purse and the power to legislate. The president does not. No president can seize that power, like this one tried to do.

The only way to stop a bully is to stand up to him. That’s what San Francisco has done, and that’s what we will continue to do.  Let me be clear. San Francisco follows federal immigration law. The federal government has always been free to enforce immigration law in San Francisco, just like it can anywhere else in the country. We do not harbor criminals. The federal government knows who is in our jails. If they think someone is dangerous, all they need is a criminal warrant.

But our teachers, doctors and police officers cannot be conscripted into becoming the administration’s deportation force. San Francisco’s sanctuary policies make our city safer by encouraging anyone who has been a victim or witness to a crime to tell police. We are a safer community when people aren’t afraid to call the fire department in an emergency. We are a stronger community when parents take their kids to school without worrying it could lead to a family member being deported.

This president and his administration have been trying to twist facts, stoke fears and demonize immigrants to score cheap political points. The American people are too smart for that. It’s time for this administration to stop trying to divide our schools, our neighborhoods and our country. The federal immigration system has been broken for a long time. It’s time for bipartisan reform that recognizes the contributions immigrants make to our communities and our economy. They have built families, businesses and homes here. Tearing that apart doesn’t make sense for anyone,” said Herrera in a statement.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera.

According to a press release from the city attorney’s office, indicated that the Executive Order violates the Constitution’s separation-of-powers guarantee that reserves legislative and spending authority to Congress. “The Executive Branch may not refuse to disperse the federal grants in question without congressional authorization,” states the Court’s opinion.

The Ninth Circuit ordered the district court to conduct additional proceedings to control how broadly injunctive relief should be ordered.

On January 31, 2017, San Francisco became the first entity to sue President Trump over his executive order to strip federal funding from “sanctuary jurisdictions.”

U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick on November 20, 2017 found President Trump’s executive order violated the Constitution and issued an order prohibiting the federal government from enforcing it. The federal government appealed his ruling.

That lawsuit is the first of two that city attorney Herrera brought against the Trump administration over federal funding for sanctuary cities. The second lawsuit, filed August 11, 2017, seeks to invalidate grant conditions that U.S. Attorney General Jefferson B. Sessions III separately sought to place on a group of U.S. Department of Justice grants for local law enforcement. Those conditions came after the court preliminarily enjoined enforcement of the executive order in April. San Francisco’s case that challenged the executive order is about limits on what the president can do. San Francisco’s case challenging the grant conditions is about limits on what the attorney general can do. That case is ongoing.

The cases are: City and County of San Francisco v. Donald J. Trump, et al., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case No. 3:17-cv-00485, filed Jan. 31, 2017. City and County of San Francisco v. Jefferson B. Sessions III, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case No. 3:17-cv-04642, filed Aug. 11, 2017. Additional details are available on the City Attorney’s website at: sfcityattorney.org.