An appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday on whether President Donald Trump can keep control of the California National Guard.
Ultimately the matter could be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
At noon, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit will hear the Trump administration’s appeal of federal Judge Charles Breyer’s temporary restraining order Thursday transferring control back to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Later the same day, the 9th Circuit issued a stay, which temporarily keeps control with Trump.
Both the 9th Circuit and the U.S. District Court for Northern California, which issued the original ruling, are based in San Francisco. The 9th Circuit is known for its liberal decisions. If the 9th Circuit rules against the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Justice could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority. The six conservative justices include three appointed by Trump, but the court has ruled against him in significant cases.
Trump took control of the National Guard and deployed 4,000 of its members to Los Angeles after protests and riots broke out downtown on the June 6-8 weekend. The protests followed mass U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests. About 300 National Guard members arrived early June 8.
Trump has also deployed 700 Marines, who started to arrive Friday to guard the Wilshire Federal Building near the University of California at Los Angeles.
Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a June 10 motion for a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to prevent the National Guard and Marines from going onto Los Angeles streets for law enforcement purposes. They argued in their motion that local police could handle crowds without federal help and that law enforcement by the military would violate the Posse Comitatus Act.
“The evidence strongly indicates that the federalized National Guard and active duty Marines deployed in Los Angeles will engage in quintessential law enforcement activity in violation of the PCC,” according to Bonta and Newsom’s motion.
The Trump administration’s 324-page appeal argued the District Court ruling is “an extraordinary intrusion” on the president’s constitutional authority to deploy the National Guard to protect federal officials. It also cites U.S.C. 12406 as giving Trump statutory power to mobilize state National Guard into federal service when there’s a rebellion or danger of rebellion against the U.S. government.
Bonta and Newsom have argued there’s no rebellion or invasion in California.
In other developments, there were over 100 “No Kings” protests Saturday in California. The largely peaceful demonstrations ranged from one with an estimated 60,000 protesters at San Diego’s waterfront to a street corner with a small crowd in Simi Valley, just north of Los Angeles.
The protests were among about 2,000 across the U.S.
Some violence broke out late Saturday on the West Coast. In Los Angeles, protesters threw glass bottles, rocks and other objects at law enforcement, LA police said.
The Los Angeles Police Department reported 38 arrests Saturday night. Thirty-five of those were for violating the downtown curfew. The rest were for failure to disperse, resisting an arrest and resisting, obstructing or delaying a police officer.
Evening violence and looting has eased since Mayor Karen Bass on June 10 started the nightly dusk-to-dawn curfew. The seventh night of the curfew will start at 8 p.m. Monday.
The LAPD Monday morning said 575 arrests have been made since June 7.
