A federal judge in San Francisco blocked the Trump administration from deploying the California National Guard in Los Angeles, and ordered the so-called Department of War to return control of National Guard troops in the city to Governor Gavin Newsom.
For the moment, Wednesday’s order by US District Judge Charles Breyer applies to the 100 National Guard troops that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has continued to deploy in LA, after initially sending 4,000 troops to the city in June.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Hegseth, arguing the secretary relied on isolated incidents of violence at protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown as a pretext to federalize the California National Guard, and deploy its troops in a months-long military occupation of the city.
In his order today, Breyer highlighted that Hegseth has also deployed 200 members of California’s National Guard in Oregon, “effectively creating a national police force made up of state troops.” The judge took aim at arguments Justice Department lawyers made in court last week concluding that, after Hegseth federalized the National Guard in June, any extensions of his decision are unreviewable by courts.
“That is shocking,” Breyer said in his order today. The interpretation would “create a perpetual police force comprised of state troops,” he wrote. The judge paused his order until Monday, likely to give Hegseth a chance to appeal the decision at the SF-based Ninth Circuit federal appeals court.
Bonta, in an emailed statement, said Breyer’s ruling makes it “a good day for our democracy and the strength of the rule of law.”
