The Department of Justice (DOJ) has dropped its appeal of a decision that prevented the federal government from cutting off transportation funding to sanctuary states.
“Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b), defendants appellants move to dismiss this appeal, which each party to bear its own costs,” a motion says. “Counsel for plaintiffs-appellees has authorized us to state that plaintiffs-appellees assent to this motion.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D), who led the lawsuit against the Trump administration, accused White House leadership of attempting to use “vital transportation dollars as a bargaining chip for its political agenda.”
“That is why my fellow attorneys general and I stepped in to stop these illegal actions – winning a permanent injunction in the lower court,” said Bonta, celebrating the motion to dismiss the appeal. “I am pleased that the Trump Administration has accepted defeat and agreed to drop its appeal of this decision. California is not playing games when it comes to vital transportation dollars that support our public infrastructure, and we will continue taking the President to court each time he weaponizes federal funding to bully our communities.”
In June, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy declared that the Trump administration “will NOT fund rogue state actors who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.”
“And to cities that stand by while rioters destroy transportation infrastructure — don’t expect a red cent from DOT, either,” he said at the time. “Follow the law, or forfeit the funding.”
Final judgment on the matter was issued in November, where the court found that the Trump administration “blatantly overstepped their statutory authority, violated the APA, and transgressed well-settled constitutional limitations on federal funding conditions. The Constitution demands the Court set aside this lawless behavior.”
