Trump Supreme Court picks Gorsuch and Kavanaugh go AGAINST White House on gay rights and sanctuary cities
PRESIDENT Donald Trump's Supreme court picks have gone against the White House on gay rights and sanctuary cities.
Both Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh denied a hearing on California's "sanctuary city" law on Monday.
Gorsuch, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by Trump in April 2017, also voted against the White House Monday to protect LGBT workers in America from workplace discrimination.
The court's decision was made despite the Trump administration's push to infiltrate sanctuary cities.
A lower court opinion now remains in place even though the White House was asked to review the "sanctuary city" law.
The rules forbid law enforcement officials from helping federal immigration authorities know when an illegal immigrant is released from jail.
It comes after months-long deliberations over the appeal.
What is a sanctuary city?
Sanctuary cities typically have policies or practices in place to help protect immigrants
- Beginning in the 1980s, American churches would offer shelter or "sanctuary" for migrants who fled Central America who feared being deported
- Modern "sanctuary cities" typically have laws, policies or regulations that make it harder for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to track down imimgrants
- The sanctuary areas often restrict "detainer" requests from ICE, declining for suspects to be held so they can be transferred into federal immigration officers' custody
- Sanctuary cities also will deny the officers access to jails or limit communication with ICE
- Although federal immigration officers still work in "sanctuary" areas, they recieve less help from local law enforcement than other cities without the policies in place
- More than 150 counties and cities across the U.S. have "sanctuary" measures in place, according to the Center for Immigration Studies
According to US Solicitor General Noel Francisco, the California law “makes it more difficult for federal officers to identify, apprehend, detain, and remove aliens under the procedures specified by Congress.
“The result is that more removable aliens, often with criminal records, are released into the community.”
Trump's lawyer's have disagreed with the law and said the state was getting in the way of federal government.
“Aliens are present and may remain in the United States only as provided for under the auspices of federal immigration law," Solicitor General Noel Francisco said in his appeal, according to the
“It therefore is the United States, not California, that ‘retains the right’ to set the conditions under which aliens in this country may be detained, released, and removed.
"As a result of SB 54, criminal aliens have evaded the detention and removal that Congress prescribed, and have instead returned to the civilian population, where they are disproportionately likely to commit additional crimes.”
Gen. Jeff Sessions implemented the Trump administration's challenge following Justice Antonin Scalia's decision on state and local authorities not being allowed to follow through with federal enforcement, the LA Times reported.
The that the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects LGBT workers in America from workplace discrimination.
The court decided by a 6 to 3 vote that job discrimination on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and transgender workers is forbidden.
Justice Gorsuch wrote: "An individual's homosexuality or transgender status is not relevant to employment decisions.
"That's because it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex."