State ex rel. Becerra v. Sessions

INTRODUCTION

The State of California has sued United States Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, Acting Assistant Attorney General Alan B. Hanson, and the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") (collectively, the federal government), seeking a declaration that Section 1373 of the Immigration and Nationalization Act (as interpreted by the federal government) violates the Constitution and an injunction enjoining the federal government from withholding, terminating, disbarring, or making any state entity or local jurisdiction ineligible for certain law enforcement grants. The State then moved for a preliminary injunction.

At some later date, this case may help define the contours of the State's broad constitutional police powers under the Tenth Amendment and the federal government's "broad, undoubted power over the subject of immigration and the status of aliens." Arizona v. U.S. , 567 U.S. 387 , 394, 132 S.Ct. 2492 , 183 L.Ed.2d 351 (2012). The Trump administration's immigration enforcement policy is clearly at odds with the State's determination of the most effective methods to implement criminal law enforcement. But for today, the question I decide is narrow: is…