Obama Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Withholding Funds From More Than 30 ‘Sanctuary Cities’

by Cristina Laila Aug. 22, 2025 9:20 pm

A federal judge out of San Francisco on Friday blocked President Trump from pulling federal funds from ‘sanctuary cities.’

US District Judge William Orrick, and Obama appointee, blocked Trump from withholding funds from Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and more than 30 other sanctuary cities.

The Associated Press reported:

A judge ruled late Friday the Trump administration cannot deny funding to Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and 30 other cities and counties because of policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration efforts.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco extended a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from cutting off or conditioning the use of federal funds for so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions. His earlier order protected more than a dozen other cities and counties, including San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.

Earlier this year Judge Orrick issued a preliminary injunction blocking Trump from withholding funding to other sanctuary cities like Portland and San Francisco.

President Trump issued a flurry of executive orders – in his first term – and now in his second term – to withhold funds from jurisdictions harboring illegal aliens.

Santa Clara, San Francisco and 14 other cities and counties sued the Trump Administration. They moved for a preliminary injunction blocking President Trump’s executive orders.

“Here we go again,” Judge Orrick wrote in his 6-page order blasting Trump for his second round of executive orders aimed at ending the subsidization of open borders.

In 2017, Judge Orrick permanently blocked a similar executive order from Trump’s effort to defund sanctuary cities.

The judge said withholding funds from sanctuary jurisdictions is unconstitutional. He said it violates the Fifth and Tenth Amendments and also violates due process.

“Precedent in the Ninth Circuit and the orders of this court show why the Cities and Counties have established that they are likely to prevail on the merits of at least their separation of powers, Spending Clause, and Fifth and Tenth Amendment claims. The challenged sections in the 2025 Executive Orders and the Bondi Directive that order executive agencies to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funding apportioned to localities by Congress, violate the Constitution’s separation of powers principles and the Spending Clause, as explained by the Ninth Circuit in the earlier iteration of this case in 2018; they also violate the Fifth Amendment to the extent they are unconstitutionally vague and violate due process,” the judge wrote in his order reviewed by The Gateway Pundit.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/08/obama-judge-blocks-trump-admin-withholding-funds-sanctuary/