Roger
on 11 hours ago
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The Federalist Papers
California Democrats just signed a law telling federal immigration agents they answer to Sacramento now.
State Senator Scott Wiener, the San Francisco Democrat behind SB 747, which he calls the "No Kings Act," took a victory lap on X after Governor Gavin Newsom signed it.
"Reminder to ICE agents," Wiener wrote. "If you violate someone's constitutional rights in California they can sue you. Your era of impunity is over."
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, fired back fast.
"Your silly state laws have no force or effect on federal agents," Essayli wrote. He reminded Wiener that California already lost at the Ninth Circuit when it tried to force federal agents to unmask and identify themselves. Then he closed the door: interfering with federal officers is a federal felony, and anyone who gets in the way will be arrested and charged. "Govern accordingly."
That exchange tells you everything.
California keeps passing laws as if it were a sovereign nation negotiating with Washington. It is not. Article VI makes federal law "the supreme Law of the Land." James Madison explained why in Federalist No. 44. Without that clause, he warned, the country would be a monster whose head takes orders from its own limbs.
Immigration is a federal power. Congress writes the laws, and federal agents enforce them. A state legislature does not get to slap a lawsuit price tag on doing that job.
The mask law was billed as a big win too. It collapsed in court. Federal prosecutors are already pointing to the same Supremacy Clause problem with this one.
Here is what Sacramento never admits. California built this collision. Years of sanctuary policies, ignored ICE detainers, and treating federal law as optional created the problem. Now a President is actually enforcing immigration law, and Democrats are stunned that the bill came due.
Passing laws you know will lose in court isn't governing. It's theater.
Should states that pass laws targeting federal agents face consequences of their own, like losing federal funding?
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Roger
SB 747 wasn't the only bill Newsom signed that day. The package also bans federal agents from using electric shock gloves, orders state prosecutors to investigate shootings by federal immigration agents, and creates a "bill of rights" for people held in detention centers. Read that list again. A st... View More
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11 hours ago