The Trump administration slammed a judge’s “extraordinary intrusion” on the presidential powers Thursday, after he ruled that the decision to send the California National Guard to protest-hit Los Angeles was “illegal.”
The ruling by US District Judge Charles Breyer ordering Donald Trump to return control of the reserve force to California’s Governor Gavin Newsom infringes on on the president’s authority as Commander-in-Chief, the Department of Justice said in an emergency appeal.
The administration has asked the court to rule on its appeal within hours.
Sporadic but spectacular violence has rocked Los Angeles over days of demonstrations against immigration raids launched by the Trump administration.
But the clashes fell “far short” of the “rebellion” the president described to justify his decision to send in the National Guard, Breyer said in a 36-page opinion released earlier Thursday.
Trump’s actions “were illegal … He must therefore return control” of the guardsmen to Newsom, Breyer said.
He stayed his order until 12:00 pm local time (1900 GMT) Friday, and the administration swiftly launched an appeal that could go all the way to the Supreme Court.
“That order is an extraordinary intrusion on the President’s constitutional authority as Commander in Chief,” the justice department wrote in the appeal.
Newsom, however, was quick to celebrate the victory — a much-needed win in just one of several fronts that wealthy, Democratic California is currently fighting against the White House.
“Donald Trump will be relieved of his command at noon tomorrow,” Newsom said in televised comments after Breyer’s ruling was issued.
“He is not a monarch, he is not a king, and he should stop acting like one,” the 57-year-old Democrat said.
Protests over the immigration crackdown first began in Los Angeles on Friday, and were largely confined to just a few blocks of the sprawling city.
Damages include vandalism, looting, clashes with law enforcement and several torched driverless taxis.
Trump, who has repeatedly exaggerated the scale of the unrest, deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 US Marines to Los Angeles despite the objections of local officials, claiming that the city was “burning” and they had lost control.
It was the first time since 1965 that a US president deployed the National Guard over the wishes of a state’s governor. Critics have accused Trump of a power grab.
But he has been unrepentant, taking credit Thursday for making Los Angeles “safe” and declaring that Newsom — a contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028 — had “totally lost control.”
Anger at Trump’s crackdown and the use of masked, armed immigration agents, backed by uniformed soldiers, is rousing protests in other cities.