On October 24, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington Judge Richard Jones ruled against the Trump Administration in a lawsuit over funding for "sanctuary cities." Judge Jones, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote  that it "would be unconstitutional" for the Administration to withhold funding from the cities of Seattle and Portland, the two plaintiffs named in the lawsuit. The lawsuit named Attorney General  Jeff Sessions  and Homeland Security Secretary  Kirstjen Nielsen  as defendants. The ruling follows a U.S. appeals court decision in August that also found Trump's 2017 executive order unconstitutional. That decision upheld a lower court ruling in favor of two California counties.  Read more.

On October 24, Los Angeles, Seattle, and 22 other cities and counties are suing the Federal Communications Commission over its move to limit local government fees on 5G network equipment applications. Local officials filed three separate lawsuits (see here, here, and here) asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to overturn an FCC order that would restrict how much cities can charge AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., and other carriers to process applications for the build-out of next generation wireless infrastructure. The lawsuits reflect an ongoing battle between cities and the commission over its efforts to reduce barriers and speed up the nationwide deployment of 5G networks for connected devices and other emerging technologies. The FCC's order, adopted Sept. 26 and slated to take effect Jan. 14, 2019, also would require governments to act on applications for deployments on existing structures within 60 days. Governments would have 90 days to approve or deny applications for deployments on new structures. Read more.