U.S. Supreme Court dismisses 'sanctuary' funding dispute

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court has dismissed three pending appeals on former President Donald Trump's effort to withhold millions of dollars in law enforcement funds from states and cities that refused to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, meaning it will not rule on whether the policy was lawful.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has rescinded Republican Trump's 2017 executive order that called on U.S. agencies to withhold federal funds from the so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, many of which are governed by Democrats. Lower courts were divided on whether the policy was lawful.

The Biden Administration and lawyers for jurisdictions challenging the order in the three cases said in a joint request on Thursday that the cases should be dismissed. The three cases involve New York City, San Francisco and various states including California and New York.

The court's online docket showed on Friday that the cases were dismissed later on Thursday.

Trump's 2017 order conditioned receipt of federal funds by state and local governments on their giving U.S. immigration officials access to their jails, and advance notice when immigrants in the country illegally were being released from custody. It was one element of Trump's hardline immigration policies and his battles with Democrats.

The new administration has moved to reverse course on various Trump policies coming before the Supreme Court.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Dan Grebler)