Topline
An appellate court temporarily blocked a federal judge’s order directing President Donald Trump to return control of California’s National Guard troops deployed in Los Angeles to Governor Gavin Newsom, after Trump’s controversial deployment of active duty military personnel to quell protests against his immigration crackdown this week.
National Guard troops were deployed to Los Angeles this week. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
Key Facts
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said in a filing Thursday Trump must “return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the ruling late Thursday after an appeal by the Trump administration.
Breyer said Trump’s deployment of the National Guard, which was done without Newsom’s approval, was illegal, “exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
Newsom called Breyer’s ruling a win for the U.S., saying it is “a check on a man whose authoritarian tendencies are increasing by the day,” and demanded Trump comply with Breyer’s order.
Breyer’s order was set to go into effect at 3 p.m. EDT on Friday, but the appellate court’s decision means troops in Los Angeles will remain under the president’s control.
Breyer’s now-paused order, however, only applies to California National Guard forces and not the U.S. Marines, who were also sent to Los Angeles by the Trump administration.
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What Else Did Judge Breyer Say In His Ruling?
Earlier on Thursday, Breyer said it did not appear Trump issued his National Guard order through Newsom, which is a requirement when the president seeks to deploy the troops in a given state. Breyer also scrutinized Trump’s justification that the protests posed a danger of rebellion, after Trump deployed troops through a law that gives the president the power to do so in instances of “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion.” The judge disagreed with Trump’s defense that a claim of potential rebellion is not reviewable by courts, according to Politico, adding, “That’s the difference between a Constitutional government and King George. It’s not that a leader can simply say something and it becomes it.”
What Has Trump Said About The Ruling?
Trump cheered the ruling in an early morning Truth Social post, but appeared to wrongly suggest the temporary pause was a ruling backing his bid to “use the National Guard to keep our cities, in this case Los Angeles, safe.” The president then claimed if he hadn’t sent in the troop to Los Angeles “that city would be burning to the ground right now. We saved L.A.” On Thursday night, the president continued to attack Newsom on Truth Social, saying: “Incompetent Gavin Newscum should have been THANKING me for the job we did in Los Angeles, rather than making sad excuses for the poor job he has done.” In a separate post, Trump claimed without evidence that the Biden Administration and Newsom had “flooded America with 21 Million Illegal Aliens,” despite various estimates suggesting the number of undocumented migrants in the country is between 11 and 12 million. In the post, Trump hailed ICE officers as “HEROES” and claimed they were “daily being subjected to doxxing and murder threats.”
Key Background
Immigration protests in Los Angeles began last week in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids conducted at retail spaces, graduations and courthouses in the city, as well as Trump’s larger immigration policies. The same night protests began, the Trump administration began weighing the deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles. Protests continued into the week and federal troops were deployed, eventually reaching a point National Guard troops were briefly detaining protesters before handing them off to local law enforcement for arrest. Newsom has sharply blasted the use of the National Guard, accusing Trump of “putting fuel on the fire” and taking the president to court over the decision. The governor has claimed his authority was infringed upon with the deployment of the National Guard and the Marines, though the latter force has yet to participate in operations within Los Angeles.
Further Reading
Los Angeles Protests: National Guard Has Detained Some Protesters (Forbes)
Sen. Alex Padilla Forcibly Removed From Kristi Noem’s Press Conference In Los Angeles (Forbes)
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