A U.S. District Court hearing is set for Thursday afternoon in San Francisco to consider Gov. Gavin Newsom’s motion to limit California National Guard and Marines’ role in Los Angeles to protecting federal buildings and property.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer declined to rule immediately on California’s request for a temporary restraining order. Instead he set the hearing for Thursday, allowing the Trump administration time to file a response to the state’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction.
President Donald Trump has deployed about 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines following the weekend’s protests and riots over the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, which reportedly resulted last week in the arrests of 118 illegal immigrants.
Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta filed an emergency motion Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for Northern California. They asked the court to prevent federalized National Guard and Marines from being used for tasks beyond protecting federal buildings and property.
“In the United States, the police – and not the military – enforce the law. This bedrock principle flows from the Founding, finds expression in Acts of Congress, and lives at the core of our civil society,” according to Newsom and Bonta’s motion. “Ours is a Nation of laws, enforced through even-handed justice, and not ruled by military decree.”
California’s motion accuses Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of trying to bring a “warrior culture” to U.S. communities.
National Guard members, who arrived early Sunday morning after the onset of riots, have been guarding entrances to federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles.
The lawsuit is “crass political stunt endangering American lives,” the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday in the response it filed with the court. The document noted Trump is responsible for ensuring the protection of federal personnel and facilities.
“Over the past several days, violent rioters who object to enforcement of federal immigration laws have targeted and damaged federal buildings, injured federal personnel, and impeded federal functions,” the Trump administration said in its response. “The L.A. Police Department (‘LAPD’) and other local and state law enforcement have been unable to bring order to the city.”
The DOJ response stressed the president, as commander-in-chief, “has every right under the Constitution and by statute to call forth the National Guard and Marines to quell lawless violence directed against enforcement of federal law.”
Trump justified the use of the National Guard by invoking Section 12406 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Services. It allows the National Guard to be federalized in response to a rebellion or the danger of a rebellion against the U.S. government.
In their motion, Newsom and Bonta said there’s no invasion or rebellion in Los Angeles.
