When the Ninth Circuit gets it right, it's with sorrow

This past Monday the Ninth Circuit Court unanimously refused to reinstate the lawsuit brought by the family of Kate Steinle against San Francisco's former sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi, for releasing an illegal alien from jail three months before the shooting of Kate Steinle. (despite a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to hold him until he could be picked him up for deportation proceedings)

The court ruled Mirkarimi violated no federal, state or local laws by refusing to tell ICE about his release date. Unfortunately, they got that right. Why is that you may ask?  Because sanctuary cities & municipalities are not really violating the Constitution. They are not required to aid federal agencies in the enforcement of immigration law. The SCOTUS has always backed the legal doctrine of “anti-commandeering”. The doctrine is that of James Madison, who feared federal overreach and therefore, allowed for a “refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union.”

The next question is an obvious one..Why would any state or municipality consider the federal government to be overreaching by simply trying to enforce immigration law? 

That answer to that is directly related to the current President's pledge to secure the border and deport everyone who is in the country illegally. Many of the blue states controlled by progressives are now acting to defy that policy. The President had one way to deal with it. He could have asked congress to link federal funding with compliance to federal immigration law. That option evaporated when Republicans lost control of the House. Why didn't they get it done before then?  Simple - even when they controlled both House & Senate, Republicans still needed 60 votes in the Senate to pass legislation.

"Describing the case as "undeniably tragic," 9th Circuit Judge Mark Bennett said the sheriff had authority to issue a memo limiting local cooperation with immigration officials. Federal immigration laws did not require Mirkarimi to share Garcia-Zarate’s release date, he added. "

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/26/kate-steinle-family-cant-sue-san-francisco-court-rules/3282366002/

Ironically, Judge Mark Bennett was appointed by President Trump. What is truly amazing was Bennett's confirmation vote. 'On July 10, 2018 the Senate voted 72–27 in favor of confirmation. All 27 votes against his confirmation came from Republican senators due to Bennett's stances on firearms.
Apparently the Bennett nomination was some sort of a trade off selection to the two liberal Senators from CA. 

As for all the victims of individuals who shouldn't even be in the country, there appears to be no solace.

In the case of Steinle, her murderer was acquitted by a San Francisco jury.