File 031972
Legal Analysis of California Sanctuary Laws and Federal Immigration Enforcement Dispute (File 031972)
News article analyzing the Trump administration's lawsuit against California over sanctuary laws restricting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, comparing it to the Obama administration's 2012 Arizona immigration case.
Summary
This document is a news article discussing the Justice Department's lawsuit challenging California's sanctuary laws that restrict state cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The article provides legal analysis of three contested California laws limiting employer cooperation with immigration officials, restricting notification of undocumented immigrants' release dates, and requiring inspection of federal detainee facilities. Legal experts debate constitutional issues including state sovereignty, federal supremacy, and the commandeering doctrine. The article also includes a separate news story about Arizona State University suspending physicist Lawrence M. Krauss during an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations spanning a decade.
nrYork. noncompliance with ederal immi- Sacramenw,romento and Vi _iVart Yee from New onstrate that itfThomas Fuller +--reported _Suit Against CaliforniaRelies on a Court CaseWon by Obama in 2012tr. sac..Sre•pfzera shacleee, a law profes-ses-et the Chzieersity of Tetras, saidhistory was repeating itself, butbackward."The suit is modeled on theMarna administration's success-ful suit against Arizona," he said.But he added that "some of thekey considerations are flipped."In the Arizona case, conserva-tives insisted that respect for statesovereignty required lettingstates play a leading role in con-trolling immigration within theirborders. But Mr. Sessions, a long-time conservative himself, disa-vowed that position in his speechon Wednesday. "Immigration lawis the province of the federal gov-ernment," he said.Justice Antonin Scalia, the con-servative jurist who died in 2016,took a different view of the Ari-zona case. In an impassioned par-tial dissent, he wrote that "it iseasy to lose sight of the states' tra-ditional role in regulating immi-gration — and to overlook theirsovereign prerogative to do so."There is no doubt that the Cali-fornia lawsuit is at odds with someof the Trump administration'susual positions. "It's a fascinatingsuit on a number of levels," Profes-sor Vladeck said, "not the least ofaznalosous contexts,Cristina nearigoes, a law pro-at 'Yale said she detectedpolitical parallels between the twosuits."Both administrations claimthat the state laws they challengeimpermissibly interfere with theexecutive branch's ability to en-force the immigration laws," shesaid. "But both lawsuits are alsoclearly designed to take on visibleand politically powerful local offi-cials whose vision of immigrationpolicy conflicts with the presi-dent's and his supporters'."In a news conference onWednesday, Xavier Becerra, theCalifornia attorney general, saidhe was ready for the fight. Thestate's laws, he said, were "fullyconstitutional and provide for thesafety and welfare of all our peo-ple.""California is in the business ofpublic safety," he said. "We are notin the business of deportations?'The Justice Department chal-lenged parts of three of Califor-nia's so-called sanctuary laws.One restricts employers from co-operating with immigration offi-cials. A second generally prohibitsstate officials from telling federalones when undocumented immi-grants are to be released fromNOAH BERGER/AGENGE FRANGE.PRESSE — GETTY IMAGESProtesting a speech delivered by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Sacramento on Wednesday.The state may notpursue policies thatundermine federallaw,' a justice wrote.the commandeering issue was asubstantial one. "To the ?xtenttlie-,_Trump administration s claimsagainst California would producean outcome that would effectivelyforce states and localities to par-ticipate m immigration enforce-ment; she said,'. there couldhe anunconstitutional commandeer-ing:"Professor Spiro said that Cali-fornia may have the upper hand inthe suit's early stages, as the is-sues in it are novel, leaving judgeswith substantial discretion.The Trump administration hasnot fared well in federal courts inCalifornia in other cases concern-ing immigration, including oneschallenging President Trump's ef-forts to restrict travel from pre-dominantly Muslim countries andto rescind a program protectingsome 700,000 young unauthorizedimmigrants from deportation.But the ultimate fate of the suitwill probably rest with the Su-preme Court. In 2012, with whatmay have been unwarranted opti-mism Justice Kennedy said hehoped that conflicts over immi-gration policy would be workedout through reasoned discussion."The national government hassignificant power to regulate im-migration," he wrote. "The soundexercise of national power overimmigration depends on the na-tion's meeting its responsibility tobase its laws on a political will in-formed by searching, thoughtful,rational civic discourse?'state custody. A third requiresstate officials to inspect some fa-cilities that house people detainedon behalf of the federal govern-ment.Jennifer Chacon, a law profes-sor at the University of California,Irvine, said the state laws hadbeen carefully written to avoid di-rect conflicts with federal immi-gration laws. "I think it is clearthat California deliberately triedto draft laws that involved core ex-ercises of state police power in away that did not run afoul of fed-eral law," she said.Each state law presents differ-ent issues, and courts may givevarying answers depending onhow directly the state laws con-flict with federal ones. More gen-erally, though, courts will take ac-count of the Supreme Court's deci-sion in the Arizona case, whichcalled for collaboration ratherthan conflict."Consultation between federaland state officials is an importantfeature of the immigration sys-tem?' Justice Kennedy wrote inthe court's decision in the Arizonacase.Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat,has said that consultation is finebut that federal officials shouldnot use California's resources topursue undocumented Californi-ans. The federal government, headded, may do so on its own."They are free to use their ownconsiderable resources to enforcefederal immigration law in Cali-fornia," he said in October in sign-ing one of the challenged laws.The Supreme Court has saidthat the federal government maynot commandeer state resourcesto achieve federal objectives. Inhis speech on Wednesday, Mr. Ses-sions denied that anything likethat was afoot."Contrary to what you mighthear from the lawless open bor-ders radicals," he said, "we are notasking California, Oakland or any-one else to enforce immigrationlaws.""We are simply asking Califor-nia and other sanctuary jurisdic-tions to stop actively obstructingfederal law enforcement," he add-ed.But Professor Rodriguez saidInvestigating Sexual Misconduct Accusations, Arizona State Suspends a PhysicistBy KENNETH CHANGArizona State University hassuspended Lawrence M. Krauss,a prominent theoretical physicist,while the university investigatesaccusations of sexual misconductover a decade."In an effort to avoid furtherdisruption to the normal course ofbusiness as the university contin-ues to gather facts about the alle-gations, Krauss has been placedon paid leave and is prohibitedfrom being on campus for the du-ration of the review," the univer-sity said in a statement releasedon Thesday.Last month, BuzzFeed reportedthat several women have accusedDr. Krauss of inappropriate be-havior including groping womenand making sexist jokes.The university said it would notOrder home delivery today.release any additional details untilits investigation is complete.Dr. Krauss, a professor in theuniversity's School of Earth andSpace Exploration, is director ofArizona State's Origins Project, amultidisciplinary research effortto tackle questions about life, theuniverse and complex social prob-lems. He gained prominence forhis book, "The Physics of StarTrek" in 1995. He later became oneof the leaders of the so-called"skeptics" movement that es-pouses science over religion. Hehas also written essays and Op-Edarticles that were published inThe Times.Michael Crow, president of Ari-zona State, told The State Press,an independent student news or-ganization, that the university hadreceived no complaints of har-assment against Dr. Krauss. Theuniversity started the investiga-tion after being contacted by Buz-zFeed.Dr. Krauss moved to ArizonaState from Case Western ReserveUniversity in Ohio in 2008.Lawrence M. Krauss is direc-tor of Arizona State's OriginsProject, a multidisciplinary re-search effort to tackle ques-tions about life, the universeand complex social problems.CAROLYN RAs thA/AA.A,AT`rs YY`''SOn Wednesday afternoon, Dr.Krauss posted a lengthy rebuttalto the BuzzFeed article. He saidmany of the incidents reported byBuzzFeed were based on unsub-F'c05so. elsce4t11_,-,sto•-•[tate;adg.241r.2,0fM1leAV11v.signed from the board of estantiated rumors and others letin of the Atomic Scientists,which is best known for itsDoomsday Clock that representsthat danger of atomic war andother calamities to the planet. Inhis resignation letter, he said hewas resigning from the board be-cause he did not want to distractfrom the organization's work.Additionally, a conferencescheduled for next month to markthe 10th anniversary of the On-of often vague innuendo. gins Project has been canceled.The university is not the only "What we hope to do is rescheduleone to take action against Dr. it for another time," Dr. KraussKrauss. The American Physical said in an interview on Wednes-Society and other organizations day.were distorted and misleading."Has my language or demeanorsometimes made others feel un-comfortable?" Dr. Krauss wrote."Clearly yes, and for that I sin-cerely apologize. Nevertheless,the BuzzFeed article effectivelypaints a false picture of me and myrelationships with others througha mosaic constructed largely outof anonymous hearsay aml a we bhave withdrawn invitations to Dr.Krauss for upcoming talks. TheCenter for Inquiry, an organiza-tion that promotes secularism,suspended its association with Dr.Krauss on Monday.On Tuesday, Dr. Krauss re-th Bul-