City and County of San Francisco v. Barr, No. 18-17308 (9th Cir. 2020)
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The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part, and vacated in part, the district court's grant of summary judgment entering declaratory relief for plaintiffs and permanently enjoining the DOJ on a nationwide basis from imposing certain conditions for providing funding for state and local criminal justice programs through Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants. Plaintiffs, so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, which have enacted laws that limit their employees' authority to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration laws, filed suit to prevent DOJ from denying funding of Byrne grants for failure to comply with new Access, Notice, and Certification Conditions.
Consistent with its discussion in City of Los Angeles v. Barr, 941 F.3d 931 (9th Cir. 2019), the panel affirmed the injunction barring DOJ from using the Access and Notice Conditions as Byrne funding requirements for any California state entity or political subdivision. In City of Los Angeles, the panel held that DOJ lacked statutory authority to impose the Access and Notice Conditions on Byrne funds in reviewing a preliminary injunction obtained by the City of Los Angeles. The panel also upheld the injunction barring DOJ from denying or withholding Byrne funds on account of the Certification Condition based on plaintiffs' alleged non-compliance with 8 U.S.C. 1373. With regard to the geographical reach of the relief granted by the district court, the panel held that the district court abused its discretion in issuing an injunction that extended nationwide.
Court Description: Nationwide Injunction. The panel affirmed in part, and vacated in part, the district court’s summary judgment entering declaratory relief for plaintiffs and permanently enjoining the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) on a nationwide basis from imposing certain conditions for providing funding for state and local criminal justice programs through Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants. In Fiscal Year 2017, the Attorney General and DOJ announced three new conditions that state and local governments must satisfy to receive Byrne grants: the Access Condition, the Notice Condition, and the Certification Condition. Plaintiffs – the City and County of San Francisco and the State of California – are “sanctuary” jurisdictions, which have enacted laws that limit their employees’ authority to assist in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Plaintiffs sued to prevent DOJ from denying funding of Byrne grants for their failure to comply with the Access, Notice, and Certification Conditions. The panel affirmed the district court’s order to the extent it held that DOJ did not have statutory authority to impose the Access and Notice Conditions and declared that plaintiffs’ respective sanctuary laws complied with 8 U.S.C. § 1373, the law on which the Certification Condition was based. The panel upheld the permanent injunction barring 4 CITY & COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO V. BARR DOJ from withholding, terminating, or clawing back Byrne funding based on the Challenged Conditions and statutes at issue. The panel held that the district court abused its discretion in granting nationwide injunctive relief, which was broader than warranted. The panel held that nothing in the record or in the nature of the claims suggested that the relief granted by the district court needed to be extended to state and local governments outside of California, not parties to this litigation, in order to fully shield plaintiffs. The panel vacated the nationwide reach of the permanent injunction and limited its reach to California’s geographic boundaries.
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