The Trump Administration has had a hard go of it since Donald was elected president. Everything the president tries to do is met with opposition and criticism. The Left Coast has been instrumental in clanging the call to arms bell of resistance. While Washington State was the first to sue the administration, outraged over Trump’s travel bans, California brought about 24 lawsuits in 2017 in 17 different categories.
Like Washington, California sued the president over the travel ban. According to The Sacramento Bee, officials said: “California has an interest, as evidenced by its constitution and state law, in prohibiting discrimination on the basis of religion or national origin.”
State Laws?
The controversial DACA or Dreamers legislation was another target for the state. The lawsuit claims it is a violation of the Fifth Amendment. Californians say that more than 220,000 state residents would be affected.
As a former Californian, this next lawsuit baffles me. The border wall, meant to keep out people from crossing the border illegally, is not looked on favorably. The Bee reported:
“The people have a concrete…interest in protecting the state of California’s territory and its proprietary interests from both direct harm and from spill-over effects resulting from action on federal land.”
The state is practically overrun with undocumented immigrants. Perhaps the most significant reason officials are against the wall stems more from the advantages of cheap farm labor than from any real contention with their claim the wall violates the constitution.
During his campaign, Trump promised immigration reform, but the left will have none of it. California sued the administration on the new sanctuary law that withholds federal grants to states that do not comply with the immigration policies and choose to remain sanctuary states. The Golden State currently receives about $28 million per year in grants to fight crime, mental health care and drug enforcement.
State Attorney General Xavier Becerra said: “This is pure intimidation intended to force our law enforcement into changing the policies and practices that they have determined promote public safety.”
Immigration is a massive issue in the state. In October, Becerra filed a lawsuit seeking information on the Trump Administration’s immigration procedures. To do their jobs effectively, the suit contends, law enforcement officials “have a compelling and immediate need for the information requested.”
Trans Military
The proposed ban on transgender joining the military was met with another lawsuit in November. According to The Bee, the ban would seriously upset the country’s ability to protect itself:
“If left unchallenged, the transgender military ban would impede the California National Guard’s ability to recruit and retain members to protect the state’s natural resources in times of need, force California to violate its anti-discrimination laws and discriminate against its own residents…”
The state of opportunity and movie stars is also a state of poor and unemployed, so naturally, the plan to repeal Obamacare did not go over well. A lawsuit was filed in May to halt the administration’s attempts.
Other lawsuits were filed on environmental acts, the birth control block, student loans, and oil and gas taxes. Instead of spending so much time, and the people’s taxes, on lawsuits, state officials should take a good look inward and address some of their own many failing policies. The “land of opportunity” has turned into a land of greed and corruption.
Choose your battles. Not everything the president suggests is automatically a bad idea. One would think, for example, Californians would be overwhelmingly supportive of a border wall and stricter immigration laws.
With the new year approaching, we can’t help but wonder how many other frivolous lawsuits state officials will waste the tax payer’s money on while ignoring their own deteriorating state.
