LA protests: US court allows Trump to keep control of California national guard while lawsuit proceeds [View all]
Source: The Guardian/Reuters
Fri 20 Jun 2025 00.16 EDT
A US appeals court has let Donald Trump retain control over California’s national guard while the state’s Democratic governor proceeds with a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Republican president’s use of the troops to quell protests and unrest in Los Angeles. A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US circuit court of appeals on Thursday extended a pause it had placed on US district Judge Charles Breyer’s 12 June ruling that Trump had called the national guard into federal service unlawfully. Breyer’s ruling was issued in a lawsuit against Trump’s action brought by governor Gavin Newsom.
Breyer ruled that Trump had violated the US law governing a president’s ability to take control of a state’s National Guard by failing to coordinate with the governor, and also found that the conditions set out under the statute to allow this move, such as a rebellion against federal authority, did not exist. Breyer ordered Trump to return control of California’s national guard to Newsom. Hours after Breyer acted, the 9th circuit panel put the judge’s move on hold temporarily.
Amid protests and turmoil in Los Angeles over Trump’s immigration raids, the president on June 7 took control of California’s national guard and deployed 4,000 troops against the wishes of Newsom. Trump also ordered 700 US marines to the city after sending in the national guard. Breyer has not yet ruled on the legality of the Marine Corps mobilization.
At a court hearing on Tuesday on whether to extend the pause on Breyer’s decision, members of the 9th circuit panel questioned lawyers for California and the Trump administration on what role, if any, courts should have in reviewing Trump’s authority to deploy the troops. The law sets out three conditions under which a president can federalize state national guard forces, including an invasion, a “rebellion or danger of a rebellion” against the government or a situation in which the US government is unable with regular forces to execute the country’s laws.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/20/la-protests-appeals-court-trump-california-national-guard
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca9.4e2731d4-cbd8-4803-a59f-a1d0c6023daf/gov.uscourts.ca9.4e2731d4-cbd8-4803-a59f-a1d0c6023daf.32.0.pdf
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