Defunding sanctuary jurisdictions by executive order, blocked for the second time in eight years

Editor's note: a federal court enjoined the orders and the directive, finding the jurisdictions likely to prevail on separation of powers, Spending Clause and Tenth Amendment grounds.

Executive Order 14159, signed on inauguration day, directed the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to withhold federal funds from 'sanctuary jurisdictions.' Executive Order 14218 directed every federal agency to ensure that federal payments do not abet such policies. On February 5, 2025 Attorney General Bondi issued a directive freezing DOJ funds to those jurisdictions. San Francisco and Santa Clara County sued, joined by a coalition that grew to include Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Saint Paul, New Haven, Santa Fe, and others.

On April 24, 2025, Judge William Orrick granted a preliminary injunction. He had enjoined a materially identical order, EO 13768, in 2017, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed. His 2025 order, after recounting that case, says: 'Here we are again.' He found the plaintiffs likely to prevail on at least their separation of powers, Spending Clause, and Fifth and Tenth Amendment claims, held the Bondi directive likely arbitrary and capricious and ultra vires under the Administrative Procedure Act, and rejected the government's argument that the cities lacked standing because agencies retained discretion. Given the administration's conduct, he wrote, that argument was hard to credit.

The administration then issued Executive Order 14287, which the court found repackaged the same threats, and Orrick issued clarifying orders in May and again in June 2025 admonishing what he called the government's empty rhetoric. In August 2025 he extended the injunction to roughly thirty more cities and counties. The government appealed; the Ninth Circuit heard argument on December 5, 2025 and had issued no ruling as of July 2026. In January 2026 Orrick denied the motion to dismiss, finding the plaintiffs had adequately pleaded separation of powers, Spending Clause, vagueness, and APA claims. Nothing has been finally decided on the merits. The January 2025 governmentwide funding freeze is documented separately at DEF-07.