Via today's Los Angeles Times,
Trump administration lawyers and California’s attorney general jousted in a Sacramento courtroom Wednesday over a trio of laws designed to limit the state’s involvement in enforcing federal immigration policy.
The hearing before U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez, which is likely to go through the afternoon, is not expected to yield a decision. Even then, it will probably to lead to an appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a national showdown between the Republican president and leaders of a state that has become the epicenter of opposition to him.
The three laws passed by state lawmakers and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017 represent the centerpiece of a political and legal resistance to Trump led by California Democrats. Two of the laws impose limits on cooperation with immigration agents. The third gives the state the power to take a firsthand look at detention centers operating under federal government contracts. . . .
Mendez gave no indication of how he would ultimately rule in the case. But in several instances on Wednesday morning, the judge suggested that at least some of the California statutes could be severed — that is, parts of the laws could be upheld and parts overturned. . . .
A steady stream of anti-Trump protesters crowded the federal courthouse’s entrance on Wednesday. While they voiced support for the state laws, they also held signs to protest the just-rescinded family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border.