LOS ANGELES — Mike Feuer, former Los Angeles City Attorney and veteran lawmaker, today warned that basic rights of all Americans could be in jeopardy if the Supreme Court accepts the Trump Administration’s call to intervene in a lower court case challenging ICE sweeps.
“Once, the Supreme Court would have been a bulwark against masked agents of the state snatching residents off American streets because of the color of their skin. But time and again, this Court has enabled Trump to act with impunity in ways no previous president could have imagined,” said Feuer. “The Court’s response to ICE’s flagrant violations could define fundamental rights of all of us for years to come.”
Feuer noted the dramatic increase by the Court’s conservative majority in the use of the so-called shadow docket, through which major rulings have been issued without full briefing, oral argument, or even a meaningful explanation. He warned that the Court majority could use that tactic again in this case. Feuer stated this trend is especially troubling given that since May, lower courts have ruled against the Administration more than 94% of the time, while the Supreme Court has ruled for Trump nearly 94% of the time, according to a recent analysis by a Stanford political scientist.
Feuer pointed out the irony that a Trump Administration spokesperson derided the “unelected” federal judge who had enjoined ICE from racial profiling and purportedly “undermined the will of the American people” even as the Administration sought a ruling from a Supreme Court of unelected justices, one third of whom Trump appointed. “By the way,” Feuer noted, “most Americans oppose Trump’s immigration methods” according to a Gallup poll.
Underscoring the importance of cities and states maintaining their commitment to protect immigrant communities in the face of federal overreach, Feuer praised the actions of Governor Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. “Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass have demonstrated the power of standing up and standing together. Their swift challenges to the federal government’s ICE raids and National Guard deployment are inspiring examples of leadership in the face of assaults on some of our most basic values.”
During his tenure as Los Angeles City Attorney, Feuer was a leader in multiple legal battles against the first Trump Administration, winning a national injunction preventing the Administration from effectively requiring police officers to become immigration enforcers as a condition of federal public safety grants, and working with national coalitions on cases pushing back on Administration’s attacks on DACA, Temporary Protected Status, the Census, environmental protections and more.
Mike Feuer is available for interviews.
Contact: Rob Wilcox (916) 396-0400 or Robwilcoxpr@gmail.com