After a judge blocked Donald Trump’s attempts to federalize Oregon’s National Guard in Portland, the president this weekend sent hundreds of troops from California instead. The move drew sharp condemnation from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who vowed to take legal action.
“This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power,” the governor said in a statement released Sunday. “The Trump administration is unapologetically attacking the rule of law itself and putting into action their dangerous words — ignoring court orders and treating judges, even those appointed by the president himself, as political opponents.”
Some 300 California National Guard members were on their way to Oregon Sunday morning, according to the governor’s office.
“This isn’t about public safety, it’s about power,” Newsom added. “The commander-in-chief is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens. We will take this fight to court, but the public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the President of the United States.”
The federal court ruling this weekend by Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut marks the latest pushback against the president as he tries to deploy troops to American cities against the objections of governors and local leaders.
On Saturday, the president also sent troops to Chicago despite protest from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Over the summer, Trump called troops to Washington D.C. and sent 4,000 National Guard members and 700 active Marines to Los Angeles, where local officials sued to block the deployments.
The Constitution bars military force for civilian law enforcement. But the president has the authority to use troops to protect federal property and staff in response to unrest that interferes with the ability to enforce the law or risks boiling over into outright rebellion against the U.S. government.
The Trump administration claims federal officials have been unable to enforce immigration laws in response to protests in L.A., Chicago, Portland, and other cities.
Immergut acknowledged that the president has broad discretion. But even by that standard, she rejected Trump’s justification for federalizing 200 of Oregon’s National Guard members to Portland, where protests have dwindled to crowds of a couple-dozen, if not fewer.
In her ruling, Immergut said the administration’s arguments were not “conceived in good faith” and were “simply untethered to the facts.”
“This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” the judge wrote. “Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation.”
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