Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the state of California last night challenging SB54, the state's "sanctuary state" law.
Sessions argues that the state law violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution which says federal law is the supreme law of the land.
via Buzzfeed:
Sessions alleged that sanctuary laws in California do not merely restrict local officials from helping deport undocumented immigrants, but rather, that the policies are “actively obstructing federal law enforcement,” and in turn, putting violent criminal on the street.
“It is a plain violation of federal statute and a violation of common sense,” he said, calling sanctuary laws a “radical, irrational idea” that effectively creates open borders.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra shot back Tuesday night — before he'd seen the lawsuit — insisting his state complies with federal law and comparing the Trump administration's announcement to a low-budget film.
"We have seen this B-rated movie before," Becerra said on a conference call with reporters, referring to the federal government's repeated clashes with California over immigration.
Sessions doubled down on his nonsense in a statement this afternoon, vaguely accusing California of attempting to nullify federal law. There "is no nullification" and "no secession" he said without any apparent self-awareness or sense of irony.
California obviously can't nullify federal law, but the state also can't nullify laws that don't exist. Sessions calls this is a "a violation of common sense," but common sense is not a federal statute. There is no federal law that compels state employs to follow orders from or to serve federal immigration authorities.
This notion is supremely ironic given that Republican states and delegations led by men like Jeff Sessions spent the entirety of the Obama administration making the case for the nullification of federal law. Several Republican governors, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, even called for a constitutional convention to remove the Supremacy Clause.
Republicans like Jeff Sessions loved federalism and the notion of "states' rights" prior to the election of Donald Trump.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Sessions "better have good evidence" and I'm willing to go out on a limb and assert that he doesn't. Jeff Sessions is not a smart person. There's no doubt in my mind that lawyers representing the state of California will embarrass Sessions in court.
Whether the court will agree with California or Jeff Sessions is another matter, but the lawsuit was filed under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which is not exactly friendly territory for the Trump regime.