A federal judge said that the Trump administration must end its deployment of National Guard in Los Angeles, troops that were sent to the region despite the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom.
“The Founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances. Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one,” U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer wrote in a ruling issued on Wednesday.
His order was stayed until Monday, and the Trump administration is expected to appeal. He also ordered that the guard be returned to Newsom’s control.
Newsom challenged Trump’s authority to send in the National Guard in June. The guard, along with Marines, were sent to protect federal property amid protests of ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
The judge wrote, “Six months after they first federalized the California National Guard, Defendants still retain control of approximately 300 Guardsmen, despite no evidence that execution of federal law is impeded in any way—let alone significantly. What’s more, Defendants have sent California Guardsmen into other states, effectively creating a national police force made up of state troops. In response to Plaintiffs’ motion to enjoin this conduct, Defendants take the position that, after a valid initial federalization, all subsequent re-federalizations are completely, and forever, unreviewable by the courts. Defendants’ position is contrary to law.”
Earlier this year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Trump’s authority to seize control of the guard, but Newsom and the state of California sought a new ruling given the lack of an emergency and the administration’s own drawdown of troops, which initially numbered in the thousands.
“Donald Trump diverted these brave men and women from their vital public safety operations and deployed them against the very communities they took an oath to serve,” Newsom said in a post on X. “Today’s ruling is unmistakably clear: the federalization of the California National Guard must end.”
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
