U.S. District Court Judge Denies Gov. Newsom’s Legal Attempt To Block Troops From Being Deployed In L.A.

A District Court Judge ruled against the state of California on Tuesday, denying a request for an emergency restraining order  that would have effectively halted the federal governments use of Marines and federalized National Guardsmen from deployment in Los Angeles to help quell the anti-ICE protests and riots in the city.

The protests and riots in L.A., which reached their 5-day mark on Tuesday, began as a response to a series of ICE raids last week that arrested over 100 illegal immigrants across the city. While the LAPD and other local and state law enforcement agencies, as well as some federal authorities including U.S. Marshalls and the Border Patrol, responded, worries over a growing protest and larger scale riots prompted President Donald Trump to personally activate the California National Guard on Saturday, the first time that a President had done that since Lyndon Johnson did in Alabama in 1965 to protect Civil Rights protesters in the famous Selma march. The initial 2,000 soldiers arrived on Sunday. This number grew to 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 Marines on Monday as the situation continued in the city.

Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom, along with Attorney General Rob Bonta, announced on Monday that they are now suing the Trump administration  that he will be suing the federal government over President Trump activating the National Guard without Newsom’s approval. As part of the filing, they also included a request for an emergency restraining order to stop troops from being active in Los Angeles as the case was to be decided.

“In the early hours of Sunday morning, the U.S. Department of Defense, at the direction of the President, redirected hundreds of National Guard troops from San Diego to Los Angeles, without authorization from the Governor and against the wishes of local law enforcement,” read the lawsuit notice. “In total, the Department intends to deploy 2,000 troops from across the state, an inflammatory escalation unsupported by conditions on the ground. In a lawsuit being filed today, Attorney General Bonta and Governor Newsom will ask the court to hold unlawful and set aside the President’s order federalizing the National Guard by way of a rarely used law, arguing that such action exceeds the federal government’s authority under the law and violates the Tenth Amendment.”

Newsom also added in the emergency request that it was needed to “prevent the use of federalized National Guard and active duty Marines for law enforcement purposes on the streets of a civilian city” and to “avoid irreparable harm to our communities and the rule of law that is likely to result from troops enforcing immigration laws.”

A denied request from Newsom

Filed with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the case was assigned to Judge Charles Breyer, with Breyer needing to make an urgent decision on the emergency order. He made his decision on Tuesday, denying the request. In addition, Breyer gave the Trump administration extra time to formulate a response to the suit, with their response having a deadline for Wednesday afternoon. The first hearing on the suit is currently slotted for Thursday in San Francisco.

Following the denial on Tuesday, both Bonta and Newsom doubled down on their lawsuit.

“The president can do lawful things, but he can’t do unlawful things: that’s our bottom line, he must follow the law,” said Bonta. “The statute they cite for purportedly deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles does not give them the authority they say it gives them. There must be a rebellion which there is not, there must be an invasion which there is not, or there must be the inability to enforce the laws and execute the laws of the United States, which doesn’t exist either. The local law enforcement had all issues in hand.”

Meanwhile, Newsom is banking on addressing Californians late on Tuesday.

“What we’re seeing in Los Angeles goes far beyond Trump’s call for deporting criminals — it’s a step toward authoritarianism,” posted Newsom on X. “It’s our democracy at a crossroads. Watch live at 6:30pm.”

The Trump administration continued to defend sending in troops on Tuesday, not even mentioning the legal win.

“If I didn’t “SEND IN THE TROOPS” to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now, much like 25,000 houses burned to the ground in L.A. due to an incompetent Governor and Mayor,” posted Trump on Truth Social. “Incidentally, the much more difficult, time consuming, and stringent FEDERAL PERMITTING PROCESS is virtually complete on these houses, while the easy and simple City and State Permits are disastrously bungled up and WAY BEHIND SCHEDULE! They are a total mess, and will be for a long time. People want to rebuild their houses. Call your incompetent Governor and Mayor, the Federal permitting is DONE!!!”

Outside of the lawsuit, many more protesters were arrested in Los Angeles on Tuesday, with Mayor Karen Bass ordering a curfew and declaring a local emergency five days into the riot.