US court allows Trump to keep control of California national guard while lawsuit proceeds

A US appeals court has let Donald Trump retain control over California’s national guard while the state’s Democratic governor proceeds with a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Republican president’s use of the troops to quell protests and unrest in Los Angeles.

A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based ninth US circuit court of appeals on Thursday extended a pause it had placed on US district judge Charles Breyer’s 12 June ruling that Trump had called the national guard into federal service unlawfully.

Breyer’s ruling was issued in a lawsuit against Trump’s action brought by the California governor, Gavin Newsom.

Breyer ruled that Trump had violated the US law governing a president’s ability to take control of a state’s national guard by failing to coordinate with the governor, and also found that the conditions set out under the statute to allow this move, such as a rebellion against federal authority, did not exist.

Breyer ordered Trump to return control of California’s national guard to Newsom. Hours after Breyer acted, the ninth circuit panel put the judge’s move on hold temporarily.

Amid protests and turmoil in Los Angeles over Trump’s immigration raids, the president on 7 June took control of California’s national guard and deployed 4,000 troops against the wishes of Newsom. Trump also ordered 700 US marines to the city after sending in the national guard. Breyer has not yet ruled on the legality of the Marine Corps mobilization.

Late on Thursday, Trump celebrated with a post on his social media platform, using his regular nickname for the governor, “Newscum”, and referring to himself in the third person.

“BIG WIN in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on the President’s core power to call in the National Guard! The Judges obviously realized that Gavin Newscum is incompetent and ill prepared,” he posted.

The Truth Social post continued with a warning: “This is much bigger than Gavin, because all over the United States, if our cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should state and local police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done.”

At a court hearing on Tuesday on whether to extend the pause on Breyer’s decision, members of the ninth circuit panel questioned lawyers for California and the Trump administration on what role, if any, courts should have in reviewing Trump’s authority to deploy the troops.

The law sets out three conditions under which a president can federalize state national guard forces, including an invasion, a “rebellion or danger of a rebellion” against the government, or a situation in which the US government is unable with regular forces to execute the country’s laws.

The justice department has said that once the president determines that an emergency that warrants the use of the national guard exists, no court or state governor can review that decision.

Trump’s decision to send troops into Los Angeles prompted a national debate about the use of the military on US soil and inflamed political tensions in the second-most-populous US city.

The protests in Los Angeles lasted for more than a week, but subsequently ebbed, leading the mayor, Karen Bass, to lift a curfew she had imposed.

California argued in its 9 June lawsuit that Trump’s deployment of the national guard and the marines violated the state’s sovereignty and US laws that forbid federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement.

The lawsuit stated the situation in Los Angeles was nothing like a “rebellion”. The protests involved sporadic acts of violence that state and local law enforcement were capable of handling without military involvement, according to the lawsuit.

The Trump administration has denied that troops are engaging in law enforcement, saying that they are instead protecting federal buildings and personnel, including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

The ninth circuit panel is composed of two judges appointed by Trump during his first term and one appointee of Democratic former president Joe Biden.

Reuters contributed reporting