Washington — A federal court in California ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration violated federal law when it deployed members of the National Guard and active-duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles earlier this summer in response to protests against immigration enforcement operations.
In a 52-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer found that the president and his administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act, a 1878 law that prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. Breyer blocked the Trump administration from deploying or using the National Guard currently deployed in California, and any military troops in the state, for civilian law enforcement.
His decision restricts the use of service members to engage in arrests, apprehensions, searches, seizures and traffic and crowd control. The injunction applies only to the Trump administration’s use of the National Guard in California, not nationally, and it does not require the Defense Department to withdraw the 300 National Guard troops who remain in Los Angeles. Breyer noted that the administration is not prohibited from using troops consistent with the Posse Comitatus Act, and wrote that they can continue to protect federal property in a manner allowed under the law.
The judge froze his injunction until noon on Sept. 12, likely to allow the Trump administration time to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
“Today, the court sided with democracy and the Constitution. No president is a king — not even Trump — and no president can trample a state’s power to protect its people,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in response to the decision. He said Mr. Trump’s use of the military “as his personal police force is illegal, authoritarian, and must be stopped in every courtroom across this country.”
Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, indicated that the Justice Department will appeal the ruling.
“Once again, a rogue judge is trying to usurp the authority of the commander-in-chief to protect American cities from violence and destruction. President Trump saved Los Angeles, which was overrun by deranged leftist lunatics sowing mass chaos until he stepped in,” she said in a statement. “While far-left courts try to stop President Trump from carrying out his mandate to Make America Safe Again, the president is committed to protecting law-abiding citizens, and this will not be the final say on the issue.”
Breyer’s ruling came after he held a three-day trial in the case brought by Newsom in June. The Democratic governor sued in response to Mr. Trump’s decision to deploy members of California’s National Guard to Los Angeles to quell protests against immigration enforcement operations taking place in the area. The president invoked a law known as Title 10 to send the California National Guard to Los Angeles to protect federal property and personnel.
The judge granted temporary relief to California officials in June that required the Trump administration not to deploy the California National Guard in Los Angeles and return control to Newsom. But a three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit found it likely that Mr. Trump lawfully federalized the California National Guard under a different law, Title 10.
Those earlier proceedings did not involve the Posse Comitatus Act. Breyer, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, held the trial on the merits of Newsom’s arguments that the president violated that 147-year-old law last month.
The judge’s ruling
The judge wrote in his ruling that the evidence put forth at the trial established that the Trump administration “systematically used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by protective armor) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engage in crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around Los Angeles. In short, Defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act,” Breyer wrote.
While the Pentagon withdrew roughly the 700 U.S. Marines who had been sent to Los Angeles, Breyer noted that there are still 300 National Guard members stationed there nearly three months after they were first mobilized.
“Moreover, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have stated their intention to call National Guard troops into federal service in other cities across the country — including Oakland and San Francisco, here in the Northern District of California — thus creating a national police force with the President as its chief,” Breyer wrote.
The judge said that the Trump administration intentionally initiated the deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles to establish a military presence there and enforce federal law. He called that conduct a “serious violation” of federal law prohibiting the use of the military for domestic law enforcement.
“In fact, these violations were part of a top-down, systemic effort by Defendants to use military troops to execute various sectors of federal law (the drug laws and the immigration laws at least) across hundreds of miles and over the course of several months — and counting,” Breyer wrote.
Breyer rejected the administration’s argument that the president’s constitutional powers allow him to override the restrictions in the Posse Comitatus Act.
“Under this ‘constitutional exception,’ as Defendants call it, the President has inherent constitutional authority to protect federal property, federal personnel, and federal functions, so any actions that can be construed as such ‘protection’ are lawful in spite of the Posse Comitatus Act,” he wrote. “This assertion is not grounded in the history of the Act, Supreme Court jurisprudence on executive authority, or common sense.”
The judge said that Congress was clear about what constitutes an exception to the law, precluding the president from exercising all but his express authority under the Constitution. He also accused the Trump administration of attempting to usurp Congress’ authority.
“That Defendants characterize this as an ‘exception’ to the statute is mere wordplay; it does not change the fact that they seek to override Congress’s legitimate exercise of its own authority,” Breyer wrote.
Attorneys for California had sought an injunction that blocked National Guard forces from participating in and protecting federal agents during immigration enforcement operations, and Breyer agreed to grant their request. The Trump administration had argued that Title 10 is an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act and therefore didn’t apply to National Guard troops who were called into federal service.
The judge wrote that while there is “no question that federal personnel should be able to perform their jobs without fearing for their safety,” the Trump administration cannot “use this as a hook to send military troops alongside federal agents wherever they go.”
Since the 9th Circuit allowed the Trump administration to keep the National Guard in California, the president has moved to deploy troops to Washington, D.C. Mr. Trump has also teased sending the National Guard to other major cities throughout the country in what he casts as a looming crackdown against illegal immigration, violent crime and civil unrest.
As of Monday, there are over 2,200 National Guard members in Washington, D.C., with over half of those troops sent by Republican governors throughout the country.