Trump may no longer deploy California Guard in Los Angeles, judges rule
The Trump administration must temporarily halt deploying the California National Guard in Los Angeles, a federal appeals panel ruled late Friday, granting a partial victory to Gov. Gavin Newsom in his effort to regain state control of the troops.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a lower judge’s order temporarily barring the administration from actively using the soldiers in Los Angeles, but put on hold a key portion of the same ruling that would have required President Donald Trump to cede control of the California Guard altogether.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta characterized the ruling as a victory for the state, which has fought to restore control of its Guard since June, when Trump assumed authority over the troops amid violent protests in L.A. over the federal government’s aggressive tactics during immigration arrests.
“For the first time in six months, there will be no military deployed on the streets of Los Angeles,” Bonta said in a statement. “While this decision is not final, it is a gratifying and hard-fought step in the right direction.”
The ruling grew out of months of legal wrangling over control of the guard. Newsom, who opposed the initial federalization as well as its extension in August, sued in June to stop Trump from federalizing the state’s troops. The case, which is mirrored in other states including Illinois and Oregon, has provided a roller-coaster of rulings and counter-rulings, as lower court judges have issued orders that are then modified, overturned or paused by appellate courts.
On Monday, in response to arguments by the state that there was no longer any need for troops in L.A. and that their deployment had been extended illegally, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ordered Trump to relinquish control of the Guard and stop sending soldiers to Los Angeles.
The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal on Friday, arguing that Trump had the right to retain control of the Guard for as long as he deemed necessary.
In its order issued after hours on Friday, the panel of the 9th Circuit said that its decision had not been made on the merits of the case, but rather to preserve the status quo while the appeal was considered in court. In a similar case in Oregon, the administration retains control of the Guard, but may not deploy it in Portland while an appeal is being considered.
Bonta and Newsom have accused the administration of using California to begin a process of deploying the military to achieve his goals in American cities.
“California did not ask to be a testing ground for the president’s militarized vision of America,” Bonta said. “There is no crisis to justify the National Guard’s continued presence, and we look forward to continuing to prove that in court.”
