In a historic legal ruling, Senior Federal Judge Charles Breyer has declared for the first time in U.S. history that a sitting president violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878—a statute designed to prevent the use of the U.S. military in domestic law enforcement. The ruling blocks former President Donald Trump from deploying military forces…
A federal judge has issued a decisive ruling preventing the Trump administration from cutting off federal funding to dozens of U.S. cities and counties with so-called “sanctuary” policies, a decision that underscores the limits of executive authority in the immigration context. The Ruling U.S. District Judge William Orrick, sitting in San Francisco, extended a preliminary…
President Donald Trump’s decision to invoke emergency powers to assume temporary control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has drawn strong objections from Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, who argues the move is both legally questionable and a blow to the city’s limited home-rule autonomy. The order, issued under Section 740 of the District of…
Introduction Often described as a cornerstone of American constitutional law, Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) established the federal government’s broad authority over interstate commerce, shaping the balance of power between state and federal governments. Argued before the U.S. Supreme Court at a time when America was still in its infancy, the case pitted two steamboat operators—and,…
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced on Friday, February 7, 2025, that the City and County of San Francisco, alongside Santa Clara County, have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s latest directives targeting sanctuary jurisdictions. The legal action seeks to protect local control and public safety from what officials describe as unconstitutional federal…