States Win in Sanctuary Cities Ruling: Stephen L. Carter

The Trump administration’s legal assault on so-called sanctuary cities took a hit last week when a court refused to order Chicago officials to cooperate with immigration officers in detaining noncitizens. More precisely, the judge dismissed a federal lawsuit challenging provisions that, in the court’s words, “prohibit state and local government support of civil immigration activities.” The timing proved to be a bit awkward for the administration, given that the decision was handed down just as the Justice Department was announcing, with great fanfare, a similar lawsuitagainst the city of New York.

Now, I don’t know whether the ruling by ...