Judge blocks deployment of National Guard to CA
Cities 1878 law against domestic sue of military
By: Bart Jansen
USA Today
..... A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard in California based on "an ongoing risk" that the president will act unlawfully.
.....
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco wrote in a September 2 [2025] decision that Congress was clear in the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act that the U.S. military may not be sued for domestic law enforcement.
..... And the judge ruled that there was no rebellion when Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles in June, [2025] ostensibly to quell a rebellion and ensure that immigration law was enforced.
..... Breyer cited plans by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegesth to expand the Guard's deployment to Oakland and San Francisco, and to other states across the country.
..... A federal appeals court panel had previously decided in June [2025] that Trump could keep control of the National Guard while Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom pursued his lawsuit against the deployment. That decision followed as earlier ruling from Breyer that Trump had deployed the National Guard unlawfully.
..... The case is being closely watched because Trump has separately mobilized the National Guard in Washington, DC, and threated to bring troops to Chicago and other cities. Trump authority to use the Guard in DC is unique, because it is not a state and is the seat of the federal government, but Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called the threatened move to his state "tyranny."
..... Trump deployed the National guard to Los Angeles in June [2025] during a period of sometimes violent protests against federal immigration enforcement officials.
..... Newson and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said there was no emergency justifying the military.
..... "The ruling is clear: Trump is breaking the law by trying to create a national police force with himself as its chief," Newson said in a social media post.
..... The
three-day trial before Breyer, which ended August 12, [2025] focused on what the military did in assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and other in law enforcement.
..... Lawyers for the state attorney general's office argued that troops performed police functions by setting up security perimeters and detaining at least two people. If Trump's actions were left unchallenged, the lawyers argued, it would "usher in a vast and unprecedent4ed shift in the role of the military in our society."
..... But Trump administration lawyers argued that the troops only acted to protect federal agents form perceived thr4ets and stayed within their legal limits.
.....
"There was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law," Breyer wrote. "the evidence at trial established that Defendant systematically used armed solders (whose identity was often obscur4eed by protective armor) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engage in crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around Los Angeles. In short, defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act."