Justice
Lessons From the 'Sanctuary Cities' of the Slavery Era
Before the Civil War, Northern states opted out of enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act—and the Supreme Court backed them up.
In one of his recent executive orders, President Donald Trump threatened to defund so-called sanctuary cities if they didn’t start helping federal authorities enforce immigration law:
San Francisco has challenged the administration on this order, saying that it violates the 10 amendment to the Constitution. (Some legal experts have supported that argument.) In doing so, it launched the first counterstrike in what might be a long, tumultuous battle between the local and federal governments on immigration.