A U.S. federal appeals court yesterday, Thursday, allowed President Donald Trump to retain control of California National Guard troop deployment, as the state’s Democratic governor continues the lawsuit challenging the Republican president’s use of those troops to quell protests in Los Angeles against his immigration policies.
Trump’s decision to send troops to Los Angeles sparked a debate in the country about the use of the military on U.S. soil and sparked political tension in the nation’s second-largest city.
Yesterday, Thursday, a three-judge federal appeals court in San Francisco extended a temporary stay on a June 12 ruling by federal judge Charles Breyer that Trump had unlawfully called the National Guard into federal service.
Trump likely acted within his authority, the judges said, adding that his administration likely complied with the requirement to coordinate with Gov. Gavin Newsom and, even if it did not, the latter did not have the authority to veto Trump’s directive.
“And although we hold that the president likely has the authority to federalize the National Guard, nothing in our decision addresses the nature of the activities in which the federalized National Guard may engage,” the justices wrote in their opinion.
Newsom can still challenge the use of the National Guard and U.S. Marines under other laws, including one that prohibits the use of troops for law enforcement within the country, they added.
The governor can raise those issues at today’s hearing before Breyer, they also said in the opinion.
In a post on X after the ruling, Newsom said he will continue his legal fight.
“The president is not a king and is not above the law,” he said. “We will continue to challenge President Trump’s authoritarian use of U.S. troops against our citizens.”
Trump welcomed the decision in a post on Truth Social.
“This is a great decision for our country, and we will continue to protect and defend law-abiding Americans,” he said.
“This is much bigger than Gavin, because all across the United States, if our cities and our people need protection, we are the ones who will provide it if state and local police cannot, for whatever reason, get the job done.”
As Reuters points out, the law sets three conditions for the president to be able to federalize state National Guard forces – an invasion, an “insurrection or threat of insurrection” against the government, or a situation where the U.S. government cannot, with regular force,s enforce the laws of the land.
The federal appeals court ruled that the latter condition likely existed because protesters hurled objects at immigration enforcement vehicles, used garbage cans as battering rams, threw Molotov cocktail,s and vandalized property, preventing law enforcement.
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