An appeals court backs Trump’s control of the California National Guard for now

A California appeals court has ruled that President Trump can maintain control over California National Guard troops in Los Angeles — rejecting at least temporarily Gov. Gavin Newsom’s attempt to take back control of the Guard.

It was the latest in a series of court rulings since last week over control of the Guard. Trump took control saying it was needed to prevent interference with the work of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents whose tactics had prompted protests.

The court’s order is temporary. It blocks a lower court ruling by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer. Last week, in response to a lawsuit brought by Newsom, Breyer found Trump was using the Guard in L.A. illegally and that he had to relinquish control back to the state.

Breyer’s 36-page ruling said Trump’s “actions were illegal — both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.” The Tenth Amendment spells out powers of state and federal governments.

In taking control of the Guard, Trump said there was a rebellion in L.A. against federal authority. Breyer’s ruling acknowledged there was violence in some instances but said, “The protests in Los Angeles fall far short of rebellion.”

On June 7, after a day of increasingly unruly protests, Trump federalized and deployed some 4,000 Guard and 700 U.S. Marines over Newsom’s objections. National Guard units across the country are under the command of governors but can be federalized by presidents. This ruling does not address the status of the Marines.

In his order deploying the Guard, Trump said there had been attempts to impede immigration agents in L.A. that constituted “a form of rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States.” His lawyers cited images of burning cars and crowds blocking the movement of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

It was the first time in 60 years that a president had activated a state’s National Guard over the objections of the state’s governor. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators.

At a hearing last week, attorneys for California argued Trump’s federalization of national guard troops was unlawful. Newsom has said he wasn’t consulted before Trump decided to take control of the Guard, as is customary. The Democratic governor has also argued military presence in the region would increase tensions between protesters and law enforcement and that local law enforcement could handle the protests.

California’s attorneys also wanted the courts to block Trump’s deployment of the Marines to L.A., but Breyer declined to rule on that issue because they had yet to be sent out to the area.

Attorneys for the federal government argued Trump acted within his constitutional authority to call in National Guard troops. They said the administration met the legal requirement to go “through” Governor Newsom in mobilizing the National Guard because they coordinated with the Guard’s adjutant general in California, who represents the governor.

The Trump administration said that ICE agents were unable to execute federal laws, requiring use of the Guard. It pointing to cases where protesting turned into rioting. It also argued the president has full discretion in determining whether a situation warrants that action and that the courts didn’t have the authority to question the decision.

Breyer ordered Trump to hand over control of the Guard the next day. But within three hours, the appeals court had blocked Breyer’s ruling.

Laura Fitzgerald covers California politics for CapRadio.