U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Wednesday ruled against the Trump administration’s use of the National Guard in Los Angeles. The order also returned control of the guard to the state.
The judge issued a preliminary injunction to California lawmakers who have been challenging Trump usurping the authority of Gov. Newsom and deploying the troops to help with the administration’s response to protesters who rallied against an aggressive immigration crackdown since June.
The administration deployed the National Guard in several cities across the country and has often been accused of using military forces to play political games with governors and mayors who have refused to bow to his whims. Many of the cities are either led by or heavily-populated by racial minorities or Democrats.
Los Angeles was one of the first cities to have the troops deployed to its streets. More than 4,000 troops were sent to the city this summer and has since decreased to about 100 troops. Yet the administration wants to extend its ability to federalize the troops at least until early next year. Furthermore, it believes that it should be able to do so without review.
“That is shocking,” Judge Breyer wrote. He noted that saying that adopting that interpretation of the law would “permit a president to create a perpetual police force comprised of state troops, so long as they were first federalized lawfully.”
The judge went on to say that the administration’s argument that Trump has “unchecked power to control state troops” would capsize the “federalism” that is central to the American system of government.
