A federal judge ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump acted unlawfully in sending the National Guard into California to counter violent Los Angeles protests.
In a decision published early Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer, a former Watergate prosecutor, said Trump and his administration violated an 1878 law that limits military involvement in domestic law enforcement.
The case concerns Trump’s June federalization of the California National Guard and deployment of active-duty Marines to Los Angeles to support federal authorities as they carried out immigration raids. That move was a response to a series of violent anti-immigration enforcement protests.
However, California Gov. Gavin Newsom protested, and in June, he, along with the state of California, filed a complaint against Trump, Defense Secretary Hegseth, and the Department of Defense, alleging they exceeded their authority and acted unlawfully.
Lawyers representing California asked the court to order the Trump administration to return control of the National Guard to Newsom and to stop using the military to “execute or assist in the execution of federal law.”
In his Tuesday opinion, Breyer, the brother of liberal Justice Stephen Breyer and a Clinton appointee, said that while there “were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence, … there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.”
