A federal judge on Tuesday said that President Donald Trump broke the law by deploying the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles County amid violent protests targeting immigration enforcement operations.
Judge Charles Breyer, the younger brother of former liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, issued a ruling that Trump was using the military to enforce domestic law in violation of federal law. The Trump administration had argued that the deployment of about 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to Los Angeles was only to protect federal property and personnel.
“Nevertheless, at Defendants’ orders and contrary to Congress’s explicit instruction, federal troops executed the laws,” wrote Breyer, a Clinton-appointed judge. “The evidence at trial established that Defendants systematically used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured 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.”
The specific law that Breyer said Trump violated was the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the use of the military to enforce domestic law.
Breyer’s order, which takes effect in 10 days, blocks Trump from using the approximately 300 National Guard troops left in Los Angeles from “engaging in arrests, apprehensions, searches, seizures, security patrols, traffic control, crowd control, riot control, evidence collection, interrogation, or acting as informants, unless and until Defendants satisfy the requirements of a valid constitutional or statutory exception.”
The case came to Breyer after California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom sued Trump.
“DONALD TRUMP LOSES AGAIN,” Newsom posted on X. “The courts agree — his militarization of our streets and use of the military against US citizens is ILLEGAL.”
Responding to the ruling, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said that Breyer’s decision was misleading and that the National Guard would not be leaving Los Angeles.
“The military will remain in Los Angeles,” he wrote on X. “This is a false narrative and a misleading injunction. The military has never engaged in direct law enforcement operations here in LA. They protect our federal employees our properties so our federal agents can safely enforce federal laws in the face of the thugs being unleashed and encouraged by state and local politicians.”
A previous decision from Breyer blocking Trump from taking control of the National Guard from Newsom was overturned by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. That court agreed with the Trump administration that the National Guard was only being used to protect federal property and personnel.
