Wall St.Journal 27Feb2020

A4| Thursday, February 27, 2020 PWLC101112HTGKRFAM123456789OIXX ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

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one stipulates it would be bet-

ter if we could get down to

one sooner and no one has the

faintest idea how that could

possibly happen...No one is go-

ing to push any of them out of

the race at this point.”

Publicly, at least, no one is

calling for any of the candi-

dates to drop out.

“I’m not in the life-coach-

ing business, and I’m only giv-

ing advice to one candidate

and that is Joe Biden,” said

Rep. Cedric Richmond (D.,

La.), a co-chairman of Mr. Bi-

den’s campaign, when asked if

others should step aside.

“Other campaigns will have to

make their own decisions af-

ter we win South Carolina on

Saturday.”

Jeff Weaver, a senior ad-

viser to Mr. Sanders, recalled

his role as Mr. Sanders’s

driver during the senator’s

long-shot—and losing—bid for

governor in Vermont as a

third-party candidate in 1986.

“If people want to run, they

should run,” Mr. Weaver said.

But he added: “It’s no se-

cret that there are a few can-

didates on stage for whom the

next week may be decisive in

their future prospects.”

The pro-Biden super PAC

has noted in its pitch to do-

nors that several states hold-

ing primaries on March 3 have

large African-American popu-

lations that could help the for-

mer vice president, including

Alabama, Arkansas, North Car-

olina, Tennessee and Virginia.

“It boils down to this: The

month of March will decide

whether Democrats will nomi-

nate Senator Sanders or some-

one else,” organizers said in

their memo. “The only other

viable option at this point is

Joe Biden. But the time to act

is now.”

a pro-Biden super PAC called
Unite the Country has been
pressing donors to help defend
Mr. Biden here and in the
coming 14-state delegate
sweepstakes known as Super

Continued from Page One

enough, and he faced pressure

from a top-ranking colleague,

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D., Calif.), to

curb government-surveillance

powers more broadly.

pected terrorists, but that

sweeps in data of Americans

with whom they are in contact.

Mr. Nadler’s measure also

aims to make some targeted

changes to the operations of

the Foreign Intelligence Sur-

veillance Court, the secret ju-

dicial panel that approves

warrants such as those that

ensnared a former Trump

campaign adviser.

The Justice Department in-

spector general found last

year that the Federal Bureau

of Investigation withheld im-

portant information about the

aide, Carter Page, from the

court that approved the sur-

veillance, fueling Republican

outrage.

But critics of the measure,

both Democrats and Republi-

cans, contended that Mr. Na-

dler’s efforts didn’t go far

Mr. Nadler’s plan to end the

metadata program, in which

the NSA can obtain numbers

and time stamps of calls or

text messages from phone

companies after getting judi-

cial approval, was seen by his

critics as low-hanging fruit at

a time when the pendulum of

public opinion has swung in

favor of more privacy safe-

guards for government sur-

veillance tools that for years

expanded in the wake of the

Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The NSA turned off the pro-

gram last year after it de-

tected repeated legal compli-

ance issues, and a declassified

government report from the

Privacy and Civil Oversight

Board released Wednesday

showed it had cost $100 mil-

lion dollars over a four-year

period but only resulted in one

significant FBI investigation.

Rep. Doug Collins (R., Ga.)

took a shot at the legislation,

saying that “we cannot reau-

thorize these counterterrorism

provisions without instituting

critical safeguards that protect

the civil liberties of all Ameri-

cans.”

Congress is in a heated de-

bate over government snoop-

ing because key intelligence

authorities expire on March 15,

and many lawmakers see an

opportunity to impose new

safeguards as a condition of

renewing some surveillance

authorities.

The surveillance tools at is-

sue are based in part on the

Foreign Intelligence Surveil-

lance Act, which for decades

has provided the legal under-

pinning for obtaining permis-

sion to surveil.

WASHINGTON—The House
Judiciary Committee canceled
avoteonanextensionofkey
intelligence powers after a bi-
partisan coalition called for
broader restrictions on gov-
ernment surveillance than
what the bill contained.
The sudden decision,
spurred in part by intraparty
disagreements among Demo-
crats, cast immediate doubt on
how lawmakers intend to re-
new a set of surveillance au-
thorities that are due to expire
in less than three weeks.
House Judiciary Committee
Chairman Jerrold Nadler’s bill
seeks to end a much-criticized,
phone-metadata program
housed at the National Secu-
rity Agency that targets sus-

BYSIOBHANHUGHES
ANDDUSTINVOLZ

Committee Pulls Surveillance Measure

Chairman Jerrold Nadler

JIM LO SCALZO/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina endorsed Joe Biden for president on Wednesday.

DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES

A federal appeals court
said the Trump administra-
tion can withhold funds from
New York City and seven
states that have declared
themselves sanctuaries from
federal immigration policies,
setting the stage for possible
U.S. Supreme Court action.
Wednesday’s decision by
the Second U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals in New York said
President Trump acted within
his authority when he signed
an executive order in January
2017 to withhold federal
funds from states that re-
sisted helping federal efforts
to enforce immigration laws.
The Second Circuit over-
turned a lower court’s 2018
order requiring Mr. Trump to
release federal funds to New
York City and seven states—
New York, Connecticut, New
Jersey, Washington, Massa-
chusetts, Virginia and Rhode
Island.
The city and states had
sued the Trump administra-
tion, arguing the funds were
withheld for political pur-
poses. Local law-enforcement
officials have said cooperat-
ing with federal immigration
agencies would discourage
immigrants from reporting

crimes and cooperating with

investigations.

The Obama administration

also took steps to divert un-

documented immigrants from

sanctuary cities and drafted

new policies that gave federal

immigration authorities the

first opportunity to take into

custody a person released

from federal prison who was

flagged for deportation.

Since Mr. Trump’s execu-

tive order, other localities

have also sued the Justice De-

partment to block the immi-

gration-related conditions

placed on federal funding.

The department has previ-

ously said it can impose con-

ditions on local jurisdictions

that receive federal grants,

including receiving access to

illegal immigrants housed in

prisons and jails and notice

of their release date.

The Second Circuit’s opin-

ion largely focused on how

best to interpret conflicting

statutory language on the

broad “form- and rule-making

authority” given to the U.S.

attorney general.

“While the Attorney Gen-

eral certainly cannot exercise

that authority arbitrarily or

capriciously,” the court’s 77-

page decision written by

Judge Reena Raggi said, “the

authority itself cannot fairly

be characterized as ‘excep-

tionally limited,’” as other

courts have ruled.

The decision conflicts with

rulings on the same issue

rendered by three other fed-

eral appeals courts, poten-

tially leaving it to the Su-

preme Court to ultimately

decide.

Wednesday’s ruling in-

volves funds allocated by

Congress to cities and states

through the Edward Byrne

Memorial Justice Assistance

Grant Program, which was

founded in 2006 and dis-

perses more than $25 million

annually in grants for crimi-

nal justice efforts.

“These conditions help the

federal government enforce

national immigration laws

and policies supported by

successive Democratic and

Republican administrations,”

Judge Raggi wrote.

The ruling is the latest

move in a yearslong battle

between the Trump adminis-

tration and the sanctuary ju-

risdictions.

The New York Attorney

General’s Office declined to

comment.

A spokesman for the Jus-

tice Department called the

ruling a “major victory for

Americans.”

“All Americans will benefit

from increased public safety

as this administration is able

to implement its lawful immi-

gration and public safety pol-

icies,” the spokesperson said

Wednesday.

BYDEANNAPAUL

Court Says Sanctuary States Can Lose Funds

Tuesday. The super PAC’s or-

ganizers said in a memo to do-

nors on Sunday that “the chal-

lenge we face is obvious:

Senator Sanders has a solid,

though not nearly majority

base among Democratic pri-

mary voters, and the rest of

the Democratic vote is split

4-5-6 ways.”

Mr. Biden is competing in a

crowded lane of center-left ri-

vals—alongside former South

Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Butt-

igieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy

Klobuchar—that is splintering

votes among multiple candi-

dates as Mr. Sanders rises. The

Vermont lawmaker won the

Nevada primary on Saturday,

secured a narrow win in New

Hampshire and essentially tied

for first in Iowa earlier this

month.

Massachusetts Sen. Eliza-

beth Warren, who has chal-

lenged Mr. Sanders for the

hearts of liberals, has used

two strong debate perfor-

mances to present herself as

the candidate who can unite

the party, but she is lagging

behind in delegates.

And in South Carolina, bil-

lionaire activist Tom Steyer

has spent more than $21 mil-

lion in advertising, threatening

to siphon votes from Mr. Biden

among African-Americans.

As Mr. Sanders aims for

victories in coming delegate-

rich states such as California

and Texas, the dynamics in

the race among the group of

moderates create little incen-

tive for any candidate to leave

the race unless they run out

of money.

Mr. Buttigieg, who narrowly

won Iowa and finished second

in New Hampshire, is trailing

Mr. Sanders in the hunt for

delegates. And both Ms.

Klobuchar and Ms. Warren

have home-state contests on

March 3, giving them a poten-

tial opportunity to capture

delegates.

Mr. Biden, who once led na-

tional polls, hopes to use

South Carolina as a launchpad

for the March states, includ-

ing many in the South with

large African-American com-

munities.

No one wants to cede

ground to billionaire Michael

Bloomberg, who is pouring

hundreds of millions of dollars

into states holding primaries

in March and will be on the

ballot for the first time on Su-

per Tuesday.

That means Mr. Sanders, as

the leading liberal in the race,

could pile up delegates on Su-

per Tuesday and build a po-

tentially insurmountable lead

against a fractured field.

“That’s the dilemma,” said

Matt Bennett, a co-founder of

the centrist think tank Third

Way. “I don’t think anyone has

a solution to that problem.”

Mr. Bennett added: “Every-

Biden Eyes

Centrist

Vo t e rs

Citizenship Papers

Searched for Fraud

WASHINGTON—The Justice

Department is creating a new

office of attorneys tasked with

stripping citizenship from immi-

grants who obtained it illegally

by lying or omitting information

on their applications.

The new denaturalization

section, to be housed within

the Office of Immigration Liti-

gation, will sue to strip U.S. citi-

zenship from “terrorists, war

criminals, sex offenders and

other swindlers,” the depart-

ment said. It will target individ-

uals who have obtained citizen-

ship “by concealment of a

material fact or by willful mis-

representation.”

The Trump administration

has also ramped up efforts tar-

geting “sanctuary” cities and

states that decline to cooperate

with federal immigration offi-

cials looking to deport immi-

grants who have been arrested.

And it has begun imple-

menting rules that make it eas-

ier for the government to deny

residency to immigrants with

limited incomes or admission to

the U.S. because they use pub-

lic-assistance programs or

might in the future.

The administration has for

several years mounted an ag-

gressive effort to prosecute

naturalized citizens who have

omitted information from their

citizenship applications.

Creation of the new denatu-

ralization section was reported

earlier by BuzzFeed News.

Critics said the Justice De-

partment’s announcement was

designed to frighten immi-

grants and link them to in-

stances of crime.

“[President Trump’s] effort

to create an environment of fear

and insecurity is chilling,” said

Manar Waheed, senior legislative

and advocacy counsel for the

American Civil Liberties Union.

—Michelle Hackman

WASHINGTON—The House

overwhelmingly passed a bill

to make lynching a federal

hate crime, bringing a legisla-

tive effort that has repeatedly

failed in the past one step

closer to becoming law.

The Emmett Till Antilynch-

ing Act, which passed Wednes-

day on a 410-4 vote, is named

for the 14-year-old black teen-

ager from Chicago whose 1955

murder in Mississippi helped

spark the civil-rights move-

ment. Two white men were

tried for his murder but an all-

white jury acquitted them.

Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D., Ill.),

the bill’s sponsor, said after

the vote that the House had fi-

nally positioned itself “on the

right side of history,” noting

that it had taken 120 years

and 200 failed attempts to

pass an antilynching bill.

“With the passage of this

bill we correct a historical in-

justice, based on a lie, that

took the life of this young

man,” Mr. Rush said. “We also

bring justice to the over 4,

victims of lynching, most of

them African-Americans, who

have had their lives tragically,

and horrifically cut short at

the hands of racist mobs and

hate-filled hordes.”

Murder is typically prose-

cuted locally but Mr. Rush’s

legislation would for the first

time establish a new criminal

civil-rights violation for the

act of lynching in the U.S.

Criminal Code.

Rep. Ted Yoho (R., Fla.),

one of four members who

voted against the measure,

called lynching horrific but

said the bill was an overreach.

“Hate crimes fall under the ju-

risdiction of states,” he said.

An identical bill passed the

Senate unanimously last year,

but it will have to pass again

before it can be signed into

law. A White House official

said President Trump is ex-

pected to sign the legislation.

BYLINDSAYWISE

House

Passes Bill

To Make

Lynching

U.S. Crime

Thomas B. Eldred

Abstract #4, 1942

Fine Modern Art

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