Appeals Court Blocks Order for Trump to Return Control of California National Guard
A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked a judge’s ruling that demanded President Trump return control of California’s National Guard to Governor Gavin Newsom. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stepped in late in the day on Thursday after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer declared Trump’s deployment of 4,000 Guard members to Los Angeles “illegal.” The troops, along with 700 Marines, had been mobilized to support immigration enforcement during protests, a move that the court is due to review more closely in a hearing set for June 17th.
Judge Breyer said the president bypassed congressional procedure and violated the Tenth Amendment by federalizing the Guard without Newsom’s consent. “His actions were illegal — both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment,” Breyer wrote. He dismissed the notion that L.A. protests qualified as a “rebellion,” one of the few scenarios where a president can legally take such action under Title 10. “The protests in Los Angeles fall far short of ‘rebellion,’” Breyer said.
Newsom, who sued over the federal takeover, called the court’s initial ruling “a big day for the Constitution.” But following the appeals court’s ruling, who should have control of the Guard remains uncertain. “These unlawful deployments have already proven to be a deeply inflammatory and unnecessary provocation,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. The next steps will depend on how the appeals court rules next week.
