A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked a ruling that restored control of California National Guard troops in Los Angeles to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The decision came just hours after a federal judge ordered the troops back under Newsom’s command after President Donald Trump federalized thousands of them in Los Angeles in the wake of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and arrests.
“At this early stage of the proceedings, the court must determine whether the President followed the congressionally mandated procedure for his actions. He did not,” Judge Charles Breyer wrote in an ruling that granted Newsom’s request for a temporary restraining order.
“His actions were illegal — both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Breyer wrote. “He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”
The latest order will stand until a three-judge panel decides in a June 17 hearing whether Breyer’s ruling should go into effect.
Trump deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles in a June 7 order in response to “violence and disorder” that he claimed threatened immigration law enforcement efforts. He directed the troops to protect federal buildings and personnel, including ICE agents conducting the raids.
At an hourlong hearing at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco on Thursday, Breyer — who was appointed to the bench in 1997 by President Bill Clinton — appeared skeptical of the federal government’s argument that the deployment was a necessary response to unrest and that the order was not subject to judicial review.
“That’s the difference between a constitutional government and King George,” said Breyer, a former Watergate prosecutor and brother to retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. “It’s not that a leader can say something and it becomes it.”
If that were true, Breyer continued, “How is that any different from what a monarchist does?”
The order is scheduled to go into effect at noon Friday. Attorneys for the federal government filed an appeal Thursday evening.
At a press conference at a state courthouse two blocks from the federal court, Newsom said he was “gratified by the order.”
“Today is a big day for the Constitution of the United States, for our democracy. I hope it’s the beginning of a new day in this country, where we push back against overreach,” he said. “We push back against authoritarian tendencies.”
Newsom filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to limit Trump’s order, alleging it was a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution and an infringement on state sovereignty. Governors traditionally serve as commanders in chief of the National Guard troops in their states. But presidents can call the troops under federal authority in limited circumstances.
Newsom claimed Trump did not seek his consent to federalize the National Guard, a clear legal infringement on his authority as commander-in-chief of state troops. His lawsuit sought to block Trump from using troops as security for immigration agents, and limit them only to guarding federal buildings.
In response, attorneys for the government called Newsom’s lawsuit a “crass political stunt endangering American lives.”
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate argued Thursday that the governor serves as a “conduit,” not a “roadblock,” for those orders. The president was under no obligation, he said, to “invite the governor to Camp David” for negotiations.
Trump leaned on a provision of federal law that allows the president to federalize the National Guard if “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States” that requires troops to “repel the invasion, suppress the rebellion, or execute those laws.”
Newsom said he had already deployed hundreds of California Highway Patrol officers to help the Los Angeles Police Department handle largely peaceful protests against immigration sweeps in the city, and that Trump’s order was meant only to incite chaos. During the press conference, he called Trump’s claim of rebellion “absurd.”
In his ruling, Breyer agreed that the “definition of rebellion is unmet.”
“While Defendants have pointed to several instances of violence, they have not identified a violent, armed, organized, open and avowed uprising against the government as a whole,” Breyer wrote.
Newsom said that the National Guard would be redeployed to “what they were doing before Donald Trump commandeered them.”
Those duties include preparing for wildfire season in California and drug enforcement at the border, Newsom said.
Despite Trump’s recent criticism of federal judges who have blocked a number of his executive actions since he took office in January, Newsom said he expected the president to follow Breyer’s order, and that he’s confident it “will stand.”
“It’s the rule of law,” Newsom said. “He’s not a monarch. He is not a king. And he should stop acting like one.”