Ninth Circuit Overturns State Law Limiting Private Prisons

Pasadena’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a California law phasing out private detention facilities in the state cannot be enforced because it is likely to unconstitutionally intrude on the federal government’s power.

The split decision overturns a lower court’s ruling that upheld AB 32.

President Trump appointees Kenneth Lee and Bridget Bade ruled that the law discriminates against the federal government because it could continue using private detention facilities only under contracts in place in 2019 while the state could keep using private detention facilities to meet court-ordered prison caps through the end of 2027, according to Politico.

Judge Mary Murguia, appointed by President Obama, was the lone dissenter in the 2-1 ruling.

Murguia argued that the law fell within the state’s established powers to regulate the health and safety of those within its borders.

“Nothing in AB 32 prevents the federal government from apprehending and detaining non-citizens who are present in the country unlawfully,” wrote Murguia.

The private prison operator GEO Group and the Justice Department filed the lawsuit.

In October, Judge Janis Sammartino denied the duo’s request for a preliminary injunction.

“AB 32 cannot stand because it conflicts with this federal power and discretion given to the Secretary in an area that remains in the exclusive realm of the federal government,” Ninth Circuit Judge Kenneth Lee wrote, joined by Bade. “It bars the Secretary from doing what federal immigration law explicitly permits him or her to do.”