Obama Judge Blocks Trump From Defunding Sanctuary Cities

An Obama-appointed judge ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump can’t cut federal funding from dozens of cities and counties that officials have deemed “sanctuaries” for illegal immigrants.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2012, extended a preliminary injunction to block the Trump administration from pulling federal funds, or attaching immigration conditions to federal funds for local jurisdictions, according to a Fox News report.

The ruling protects more than 30 sanctuary jurisdictions, including Los Angeles, Baltimore, Boston, and Chicago.

Orrick additionally blocked Trump from placing similar immigration-related conditions on two grant programs.

The judge argued that Trump’s action to protect Americans from unvetted illegal immigrants, specifically by threatening to withhold federal funding, is unconstitutional coercion.

In January, Trump signed an executive order to cut off federal funding for sanctuary jurisdictions, moving to fulfill a widely-supported campaign promise. The EO, called “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” directs the DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security to ensure “sanctuary jurisdictions” do not receive federal money. It further directs the DOJ and DHS to “evaluate and undertake any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted based on any such jurisdiction’s practices that interfere with the enforcement of Federal law.”

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The administration has also targeted the worst of the worst, suing Los Angeles and New York City for such policies. The DOJ sued Los Angeles in June, arguing that city policies barring city resources from aiding in immigration enforcement operations or collecting information about individuals’ citizenship status violate federal law, Reuters reported. A month later, the DOJ took action against New York City for related immigration reasons.

Trump has spoken fiercely about wanting to defund sanctuary jurisdictions, deeming them a threat to the American people and the rule of law.

“No more Sanctuary Cities! They protect the Criminals, not the Victims. They are disgracing our Country, and are being mocked all over the World,” Trump posted back in April on Truth Social. “Working on papers to withhold all Federal Funding for any City or State that allows these Death Traps to exist!!!”

The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling.

RFK Jr Makes Another Major Change To Boost ‘Radical Transparency’

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday started to publicly report adverse events to drugs and some vaccines in real time, a change FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said promotes “radical transparency.”

The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System, known as FAERS, is what the FDA uses as its primary database for collecting adverse event reports related to medication errors, prescription drugs, and some vaccines — though the main database for vaccine adverse event reports is known as VAERS. The reports are collected from health care professionals, manufacturers, and consumers.

The FAERS public dashboard is available to access online.

“Adverse event reporting should be fast, seamless and transparent,” Makary said in a statement. “People who navigate the government’s clunky adverse event reporting websites should not have to wait months for that information to become public. We’re closing that waiting period and will continue to streamline the process from start to finish.”

Starting today, the FDA will disclose adverse events publicly in real time. #radicaltransparency https://t.co/WLN38ivs1m

— Dr. Marty Makary (@DrMakaryFDA) August 22, 2025

In a press release, the FDA, which is a branch of Health and Human Services (HHS), said the change “represents a significant step forward in modernizing the agency’s safety monitoring infrastructure and demonstrates our commitment to real-time protection of public health.”

“The shift is one of many steps in the FDA’s broader data modernization strategy to streamline all of its adverse event reporting systems and increase reporting frequency across all systems to identify safety signals faster,” the press release added.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who leads HHS, has made a number of changes concerning therapeutics and vaccinations. Most notably, the secretary gutted the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, known as ACIP, back in June. The highly influential vaccine panel, Kennedy argued, was plagued with conflicts of interest before he took action.

New members on ACIP include Dr. Robert Malone, who worked on early research for mRNA vaccine technology and is a vocal critic of the mRNA COVID vaccines, as well as other medical experts who took dissenting positions from the medical establishment during the COVID pandemic.

On Monday, I took a major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines by reconstituting the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP). I retired the 17 current members of the committee. I’m now repopulating ACIP with the eight new members who will attend ACIP’s…

— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) June 11, 2025

Related: Teen Takes On New York Over Vax Mandate — And Wins

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