Trump Allowed to Keep Using National Guard in LA for Now (4)

President Donald Trump can continue to use California National Guard troops to respond to protests in Los Angeles as a legal challenge over the deployment proceeds, a federal appeals court ruled.

In a win for the White House, a three-judge panel in San Francisco on Thursday said the Trump administration can keep using the California National Guard to respond to protests over the president’s immigration raids. The court extended a delay on a lower-court order that would have required Trump to return control of the troops to Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, saying courts should be “highly deferential” to Trump’s decision to federalize the troops.

“We conclude that it is likely that the president lawfully exercised his statutory authority,” the panel said in a preliminary ruling.

The ruling doesn’t change the situation on the ground in Los Angeles, where the federal government has been deploying the military for more than a week. It means Trump may retain control of the troops while protests in the city play out. California can appeal the ruling to a bigger panel of the appeals court or directly to the US Supreme Court.

Members of the California National Guard in Los Angeles on June 17.

Photographer: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

At a hearing Friday in the lower court, US District Judge Charles Breyer said he had to follow the appeals court. He ordered both sides to submit briefs by Monday on whether they think he has jurisdiction over two remaining legal issues.

Sparring Over Troops

California and the Trump administration have been sparring over the federal government’s response to the protests, including the deployment of thousands of the state’s National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines.

Read More: What Powers Do US States Have to Resist Trump?

“While it is disappointing that our temporary restraining order has been stayed pending the federal government’s appeal, this case is far from over,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “While the court did not provide immediate relief for Angelenos today, we remain confident in our arguments and will continue the fight.”

California and Newsom have blasted Trump’s deployment as a “power grab” and an unnecessary intrusion on the work of local officials to police the protests. The state succeeded in persuading the appeals panel to reject Justice Department arguments that the courts have no role in second-guessing a president’s decision to federalize the state National Guard, a prospect one of California’s lawyers called “terrifying.”

‘Big Win’

Trump hailed the ruling as a “big win,” saying in a Truth Social post that calling in the National Guard is a “core power” of the presidency. He added that “all over the United States, if our cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should state and local police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done.”

The Trump administration claims the president has the power to unilaterally federalize National Guard troops when he determines there is a “rebellion” or “invasion” or when “regular forces” are unable to enforce federal law. The Justice Department argued that the protests are interfering with efforts to arrest and deport immigrants.

The appeals court judges also stressed that their decision is limited to whether Trump was allowed to call for the deployment, but does not address “the nature of the activities in which the federalized National Guard may engage.”

Read More: Trump’s Grip on LA Troops Faces Test in Appeals Court Ruling

The panel, which heard arguments Tuesday by lawyers from both the Justice Department and California, is composed of two judges appointed by Trump and one by former President Joe Biden. The court stepped in last week at the administration’s request to pause Breyer’s order declaring that Trump’s deployment without California’s consent was “illegal.”

President’s Proclamation

Trump issued a proclamation authorizing the deployment on June 7 and said protests in the city against his deportation initiative represent a form of “rebellion” against the authority of the federal government. In court filings, lawyers for the administration cited reports of violence and threats against federal property and officers conducting immigration enforcement.

“The court rightly rejected Trump’s claim that he can do whatever he wants with the National Guard and not have to explain himself to a court,” Newsom said in a statement. “The president is not a king and is not above the law. We will press forward with our challenge to President Trump’s authoritarian use of US military soldiers against citizens.”

Breyer said in his June 12 ruling he was troubled by the idea that a protest against the federal government on its own could “justify a finding of rebellion.”

The case is Newsom v. Trump, 25-3727, 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals (San Francisco).

(Updates with Friday hearing in fifth paragraph.)

--With assistance from Derek Wallbank, Chelsea Mes and Janine Phakdeetham.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Madlin Mekelburg in Austin at mmekelburg@bloomberg.net;
Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net;
Ben Bain at bbain2@bloomberg.net

Peter Blumberg, Peter Jeffrey

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