Trump Is Aiming to Run Roughshod Over the States

It is generally unconstitutional for state and local officials to actively obstruct federal officials from carrying out their lawful duties. Whether state and local officials are required to cooperate with their federal counterparts is a different story. The Supreme Court, for example, has occasionally invoked what is known as the anti-commandeering doctrine to overturn federal laws that compel states to undertake specific policies, like requiring local officials to perform background checks on gun purchases or barring state legislatures from legalizing sports betting. Prosecuting mayors, sheriffs, and county commissioners for not enforcing or helping to enforce federal laws would amount to a major constitutional breach.
Naturally, some Republican-led states have leapt at the opportunity to assist the Trump administration. In Tennessee, lawmakers passed a bill that would create a state agency to specifically assist with deportations. Tennessee is not a sanctuary state and has laws prohibiting its cities and counties from becoming them. But the bill goes even further by also making it a criminal offense for state and local officials to vote to adopt sanctuary-like policies. Criminalizing specific votes on legislation is perhaps unprecedented in American legal history. The law would likely face serious First Amendment challenges if it were enforced.
Trump’s hostility toward federalism goes beyond specific executive orders and policy disputes. He appears unwilling to treat Democratic-led states as legitimate constitutional actors. Last week, for example, the president announced that he had launched a military invasion of California over its water-use policies and the deadly wildfires around Los Angeles. “The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond,” he wrote on Truth Social, his private social media website.