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SO. POV. LAW CTR’S MOTION FOR 

LEAVE TO FILE AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF. 

CASE NO. 17-CV-00485 WHO

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DECHERT LLP

NATHAN M. MCCLELLAN (SBN 291435) 

FRED T. MAGAZINER 

CHRISTOPHER S. BURRICHTER 

Email: nathan.mcclellan@dechert.com 

Email: fred.magaziner@dechert.com 

Email: christopher.burrichter@dechert.com 

US Bank Tower 

633 West 5th Street 

37th Floor 

Los Angeles, California 90071-2013 

Telephone: +1 213 808 5700 

Facsimile: +1 213 808 5760 

Attorneys for Amicus Curiae

Southern Poverty Law Center 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN

FRANCISCO, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the 

United States of America, JOHN F. 

KELLY, in his official capacity as Secretary 

of the United States Department of 

Homeland Security, JEFFERSON B. 

SESSIONS, in his official capacity as 

Attorney General of the United States, 

JOHN MICHAEL “MICK” MULVANEY, 

in his official capacity as Director of the 

Office of Management and Budget, and 

DOES 1-50, 

Defendants. 

Case No. 17-cv-00485 WHO

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE AMICUS 

CURIAE BRIEF OF SOUTHERN 

POVERTY LAW CENTER AND OTHER 

AMICI IN SUPPORT OF COUNTY OF 

SANTA CLARA AND CITY AND COUNTY 

OF SAN FRANCISCO’S MOTIONS FOR 

PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION 

Date: April 12, 2017 

Time: 2:00 p.m. 

Dept.: Courtroom 2 

Judge: Hon. William H. Orrick 

Date Filed: January 31, 2017 

Trial Date: Not Yet Set 

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MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF 

The Southern Poverty Law Center and additional amici1 hereby request permission to file 

the attached amici curiae brief2 in support of the motions for preliminary injunctions filed by 

Plaintiffs County of Santa Clara and City and County of San Francisco.3 In support of this 

motion, Southern Poverty Law Center and amici state: 

I. STATEMENT OF IDENTITY AND INTEREST OF AMICUS CURIAE

SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER 

The Southern Poverty Law Center (“SPLC”) is a nonprofit legal advocacy organization 

based in Montgomery, Alabama, with additional offices in Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and 

Mississippi. The SPLC was founded in 1971 with the mission of ensuring civil rights for all. 

Since then, the SPLC has worked tirelessly to protect the most vulnerable members of society, 

winning numerous landmark legal victories throughout the American South. The SPLC 

specifically works to protect the civil rights of immigrants and migrant workers, many of whom 

face discrimination, exploitation, and outright abuse. For instance, the SPLC has recently 

launched the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative, a project that will enlist and train lawyers 

to provide pro bono counsel to immigrants who have been detained and are facing deportation 

proceedings. The SPLC regularly engages in targeted litigation and advocacy on behalf of 

immigrant communities. 

In the course of its work on behalf of immigrants, the SPLC has acquired experience with 

local jurisdictions that voluntarily allow their local law enforcement to be commandeered by the 

federal government in order to enforce federal immigration priorities. Executive Order 13768, 82 

Fed. Reg. 8799 (Jan. 25, 2017) (the “Executive Order”), at issue in these cases, seeks to 

involuntarily compel local jurisdictions across the country to adopt the same practices. The SPLC 

1

 Exhibit 1 to this Motion identifies each of the additional amici and explains each amici’s interest 

in, and reasons for, the attached amici curiae brief. 

2

 Attached as Exhibit 2 to this Motion. 

3

 The County of Santa Clara has filed a motion for a nationwide preliminary injunction in County 

of Santa Clara v. Trump, et al., Case No. 17-cv-574-WHO (N.D. Cal.). Although these two cases 

have not been consolidated and have separate hearing dates, both cases have been assigned to the 

same Judge and the Plaintiffs in each case have requested a nationwide preliminary injunction of 

the same Executive Order. Amici’s arguments in their attached brief apply equally to both cases. 

Amici therefore submit the same proposed brief in each case. 

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believes that these practices constitute bad public policy, with harmful consequences for local 

jurisdictions and the immigrant communities who live in them, and that the Executive Order 

seeking to compel these practices is constitutionally flawed. The SPLC is deeply interested in 

this litigation because the Executive Order, if implemented, will have a dramatic impact on issues 

that are central to the SPLC’s mission and work. 

II. REASONS FOR AND RELEVANCE OF AMICI CURIAE BRIEF 

The SPLC focuses primarily on litigation and advocacy in the southern United States. As 

described above, many jurisdictions in the SPLC’s area of regular operations currently voluntarily

employ the same practices that the Executive Order seeks to involuntarily compel Santa Clara, 

San Francisco, and all local jurisdictions across the country to adopt. The SPLC has witnessed 

the consequences of these practices in a variety of jurisdictions across the American South. 

The proposed brief of amici curiae provides a short synopsis of several distinct types of 

harm that occur when local police carry out federal immigration laws. These harms are not all 

self-evident, but have instead come to light through the SPLC’s and other amici’s longstanding 

relationship with immigrant communities, including their membership in these communities. The 

practice of local police voluntarily assisting in the enforcement of federal immigration law is not 

as widespread in Santa Clara, San Francisco, or the Northern District of California. Accordingly, 

the proposed brief of amici curiae is relevant to this litigation because it will permit the SPLC and 

other amici to share with the Court their experience and understanding of the consequences of the 

practices that the Executive Order seeks to compel, based on extensive experience in the southern 

United States, where these practices are commonplace. 

III. CONCLUSION 

For the foregoing reasons, the Southern Poverty Law Center and amici hereby request the 

Court to grant leave to file an amici curiae brief in support of County of Santa Clara and City and 

County of San Francisco’s motions for preliminary injunction. 

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Dated: March 22, 2017 Respectfully Submitted,

Dechert LLP 

By: /s/ Nathan M. McClellan 

Nathan M. McClellan 

Fred T. Magaziner 

Christopher S. Burrichter 

Attorneys for Amicus Curiae

Southern Poverty Law Center 

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Southern Poverty Law Center 

By: /s/ Naomi Tsu 

Naomi Tsu 

GA Bar No. 507612 

1989 College Ave., NE 

Atlanta, GA 30317 

(t): 404-521-6700 

(f): 404-221-5857 

naomi.tsu@splcenter.org 

Attorney for proposed amici curiae 

Adelante Alabama Worker Center, 

Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, 

American Federation of Teachers, 

Americans for Immigrant Justice, 

Asian American Legal Defense and 

Education Fund, 

Asian Americans Advancing Justice (Asian 

Law Caucus, Los Angeles, AAJC, and 

Atlanta), 

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, 

Equal Rights Advocates, 

Florida Immigrant Coalition, Inc., 

Florida Legal Services, Inc., 

Greater Birmingham Ministries, 

Greater Rochester Coalition for 

Immigration Justice, 

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and 

Refugee Rights, 

Immigrant Legal Resource Center, 

Jobs With Justice, 

Justice in Motion, 

Latin American Legal Defense and 

Education Fund, 

LatinoJustice PRLDEF, 

National Employment Law Project, 

National Immigration Law Center, 

New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial 

Justice, 

Northwest Forest Worker Center, 

Refugee and Immigrant Center for 

Education and Legal Services, 

Safe Horizon, 

Southeast Immigrant Rights Network, 

St. Louis Workers Education Society, 

Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights 

Coalition, 

We Belong Together, 

Worker Justice Center of New York, Inc., 

Workers Defense Project, and 

Worksafe 

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The undersigned hereby attests that all signatories hereto, together with their respective 

clients on whose behalf this filing is submitted, concur in the contents of the within MOTION 

FOR LEAVE TO FILE AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER 

AND OTHER AMICI IN SUPPORT OF COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA AND CITY AND 

COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO’S MOTIONS FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION and have 

authorized this filing. 

By: /s/ Nathan M. McClellan 

Nathan M. McClellan 

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