President Trump threatened to “withhold funds” from “sanctuary cities” when he signed an executive order on Jan. 25, 2017. Now, 19 months later, a federal appeals court has deemed the move unconstitutional, upholding a previous district court ruling.

The 2-1 decision Wednesday by the United States 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government cannot withhold federal funding from cities and counties in retaliation for policies that support immigrant and refugee communities.

The ruling was initiated in a lawsuit from the California counties of San Francisco and Santa Clara.

“If they wanted to go after Chicago, if they wanted to go after Denver or Philadelphia, they would not be bound by an injunction,” said David Levine, an expert on federal court procedure at the University of California, Hastings, College of Law. “Those places would have to bring their own lawsuits and whatever happens, happens in those cases.”

Judge Sidney R. Thomas wrote in his decision that only Congress has the power to grant or deny funding.

“Here, the Administration has not even attempted to show that Congress authorized it to withdraw federal grant moneys from jurisdictions that do not agree with the current Administration’s immigration strategies,” Thomas wrote. “Nor could it. In fact, Congress has frequently considered and thus far rejected legislation accomplishing the goals of the Executive Order.”

“Put simply, the president cannot use the threat of defunding as a weapon to force local governments to abandon politics that make their communities safer,” said Santa Clara County, Calif., Counsel James R. Williams.

“We have the law – and justice – on our side,” said Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. “This ruling is a victory for welcoming cities everywhere and confirms that the administration’s actions violate our Constitution.”

Durkan added, “As we mark this victory for our City, we have no illusions: the administration’s threats to welcoming cities like ours will continue, and these threats will do nothing to make our communities safer. We will not allow our City and our state to be bullied by the President and Attorney General Sessions, who continue to threaten our shared values of inclusion, opportunity, and diversity.”

“I’m pleased that the 9th Circuit recognized that the Trump Administration can’t bully jurisdictions into selling out their immigrant communities,” said Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes. “Seattle is proud to be a Welcoming City, and we won’t be threatened into abandoning our principles.  We are closely evaluating this ruling and considering its implications for our own lawsuit, City of Seattle v. Donald J. Trump.”

An updated list of sanctuary cities is available.

‘The GOP Has Become a Danger to Our Democracy and Values’

Republican strategist Steve Schmidt propelled the campaigns of George W. Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John McCain, and Lamar Alexander. He’s worked for Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, among many other Republicans.

And as of about 2 AM Wednesday morning, he is no longer a Republican.

Schmidt is often seen on cable news, especially MSNBC, where he is a political analyst, spending much of that time denouncing Donald Trump.

But he took to Twitter overnight, hours after an Associated Press report revealed that the Trump administration has been housing hundreds of babies in internment camps. And he dropped a bomb.

In his overnight tweetstorm Schmidt called the Republican Party “corrupt, indecent and immoral,” and “filled with feckless cowards who disgrace and dishonor the legacies of the party’s greatest leaders.”

“This child separation policy is connected to the worst abuses of Humanity in our history. It is connected by the same evil that separated families during slavery and dislocated tribes and broke up Native American families. It is immoral and must be repudiated. Our country is in trouble. Our politics are badly broken.”

Schmidt calls for an “absolute and utter repudiation of Trump and his vile enablers in the 2018 election by electing Democratic majorities. I do not say this as an advocate of a progressive agenda. I say it as someone who retains belief in DEMOCRACY and decency.”

Establishes internment camps for babies. Everyone of these complicit leaders will carry this shame through history. There legacies will be ones of well earned ignominy. They have disgraced their country and brought dishonor to the Party of Lincoln.

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) June 20, 2018

This Independent voter will be aligned with the only party left in America that stands for what is right and decent and remains fidelitous to our Republic, objective truth, the rule of law and our Allies. That party is the Democratic Party.

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) June 20, 2018