The National Guard, police and testers stand off outside of a downtown jail in Los Angeles ing two days of clashes with police during a series of immigration raids on June 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Spencer Platt | Getty ImagesA federal judge on Tuesday barred President Donald Trump from deploying National Guard and other military troops in California to execute law enforcement actions there, including making arrests, ing locations and crowd control.The ruling came in connection with a lawsuit filed in early June by the state of California challenging Trump's and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's deployment of the guard and Marines to deal with tests in Los Angeles over the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies.Judge Charles Breyer said Trump's deployment of thousands of National Guard troops and 700 Marines to LA.
"willfully" violated the federal Posse Comitatus Act, which bars U.S. military forces from enforcing the law domestically.Breyer's injunction in U.S.
District Court in San Francisco is limited to California, and the judge stayed the decision until Sept.
12 to give the Trump administration time to appeal it.The judge said the Trump administration is not required to withdraw the remaining 300 National Guard troops currently stationed in LA, "nor are they barred from using troops consistent with the Posse Comitatus Act." That could include guarding federal buildings.But the decision comes as Trump has considered deploying National Guard troops to other U.S.
cities to deal with crime, including Oakland, California, and San Francisco.Senior District Judge Charles R.
BreyerSource: USDC | Northern District of CaliforniaIn mid-August, Trump placed Washington, D.C.'s police force under federal control and deployed National Guard troops in that city to address what he claims is a rampant crime blem.On Tuesday, Trump, in a social media post, said that at least 54 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend, and warned, "I will solve the crime blem fast, just I did in DC."Breyer in his ruling warned that further deployments of Guard and military troops in other American cities would create "a national police force with the President as its chief.""President Trump's recent executive orders and public statements regarding the National Guard raise serious concerns as to whether he intends to order troops to violate the Posse Comitatus Act elsewhere in California," the judge wrote..
Gavin Newsom gloated the ruling in a social media post."DONALD TRUMP LOSES AGAIN," Newsom wrote on X.Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks after U.S.
District Judge Charles Breyer granted an emergency temporary restraining order to stop President Trump's deployment of the California National Guard, Thursday, June 12, 2025, at the California State Supreme Court building in San Francisco.
San Francisco Chronicle/hearst Newspapers | Hearst Newspapers | Getty ImagesBreyer, in his ruling, wrote, "Congress spoke ly in 1878 when it passed the Posse Comitatus Act, hibiting the use of the U.S.
military to execute domestic law.""Nearly 140 years later, Defendants — President Trump, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, and the Department of Defense — deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, ostensibly to quell a rebellion and ensure that federal immigration law was enforced," the judge wrote."There were indeed tests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence," Breyer wrote."Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the tests and enforce the law."Police and national guards take measures as thousands of anti-ICE testers are gathered outside of the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on June 9, 2025 amid tests over immigration raids.
Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu | Getty ImagesBreyer said that evidence introduced during a trial for the lawsuit shows that the defendants had "systematically used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by tective armor) and military vehicles to set up tective perimeters and traffic blockades, engage in crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around Los Angeles."White House spokesperson Anna Kelly, in a statement, said, "Once again, a rogue judge is trying to usurp the authority of the Commander-in-Chief to tect American cities from violence and destruction.""President Trump d Los Angeles, which was overrun by deranged leftist lunatics sowing mass chaos until he stepped in," Kelly said."While far-left courts try to stop President Trump from carrying out his mandate to Make America Safe Again, the President is committed to tecting law-abiding citizens, and this will not be the final say on the issue." The Justice Department, which represented the Trump administration in the case, declined to .Newsom, in a statement, said, "Today, the court sided with democracy and the Constitution.
No president is a king — not even Trump — and no president can trample a state's power to tect its people.""As the court today ruled, Trump is the law by 'creating a national police force with the President as its chief,'" the governor said.
"That's exactly what we've been warning for months. There is no rampant lawlessness in California, and in fact, crime rates are higher in Republican-led states.
Trump's attempt to use federal troops as his personal police force is illegal, authoritarian, and must be stopped in every courtroom across this country."Don’t miss these insights from CNBC What Nvidia's earnings mean for the stock market and AI tradeJosh Brown says if Apple announced a deal with Perplexity AI, the s would hit a recordChallenging Buffett: Buying wonderful companies at fair prices isn't more fitableBest Stocks: The value name with one of the best long-term charts Josh Brown has ever seen