Judge asks if troops in Los Angeles are violating the Posse Comitatus
Act
[June 21, 2025]
By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California's challenge of the Trump
administration's military deployment in Los Angeles returned to a
federal courtroom in San Francisco on Friday for a brief hearing after
an appeals court handed President Donald Trump a key procedural win.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer put off issuing any additional
rulings and instead asked for briefings from both sides by noon Monday
on whether the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits troops from
conducting civilian law enforcement on U.S. soil, is being violated in
Los Angeles.
The hearing happened the day after the 9th Circuit appellate panel
allowed the president to keep control of National Guard troops he
deployed in response to protests over immigration raids.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in his complaint that “violation of
the Posse Comitatus Act is imminent, if not already underway” but Breyer
last week postponed considering that allegation.
Vice President JD Vance, a Marine veteran, traveled to Los Angeles on
Friday and met with troops, including U.S. Marines who have been
deployed to protect federal buildings.
According to Vance, the court determined Trump’s determination to send
in federal troops “was legitimate” and he will do it again if necessary.
“The president has a very simple proposal to everybody in every city,
every community, every town whether big or small, if you enforce your
own laws and if you protect federal law enforcement, we’re not going to
send in the National Guard because it’s unnecessary,” Vance told
journalists after touring a federal complex in Los Angeles.
Vance’s tour of a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a
mobile command center came as demonstrations have calmed after
sometimes-violent clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of
vandalism and break-ins that followed immigration raids across Southern
California earlier this month. Tens of thousands have also marched
peacefully in Los Angeles since June 8.
National Guard troops have been accompanying federal agents on some
immigration raids, and Marines briefly detained a man on the first day
they deployed to protect a federal building. The marked the first time
federal troops detained a civilian since deploying to the nation’s
second-largest city.
Trump allowed to keep control of National Guard
Breyer found Trump acted illegally when, over opposition from
California's governor, the president activated the soldiers. However,
the appellate decision halted the judge's temporary restraining order.
Breyer asked the lawyers on Friday to address whether he or the
appellate court retains primary jurisdiction to grant an injunction
under the Posse Comitatus Act.
California has sought a preliminary injunction giving Newsom back
control of the troops in Los Angeles, where protests have calmed down in
recent days.
Trump, a Republican, argued that the troops have been necessary to
restore order. Newsom, a Democrat, said their presence on the streets of
a U.S. city inflamed tensions, usurped local authority and wasted
resources.
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A woman lays flowers in front of a National Guard as protesters
gather to denounce ICE, U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
operations Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo Damian
Dovarganes)
Los Angeles mayor lifts curfew after protests subside
The demonstrations appear to be winding down, although dozens of
protesters showed up Thursday at Dodger Stadium, where a group of
federal agents gathered at a parking lot with their faces covered,
traveling in SUVs and cargo vans. The Los Angeles Dodgers organization
asked them to leave, and they did.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass lifted a downtown curfew that
was first imposed in response to vandalism and clashes with police after
crowds gathered in opposition to agents taking migrants into detention.
Trump federalized members of the California National Guard under an
authority known as Title 10.
Title 10 allows the president to call the National Guard into federal
service when the country “is invaded,” when “there is a rebellion or
danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government,” or when
the president is otherwise unable “to execute the laws of the United
States.”
Breyer found that Trump had overstepped his legal authority, which he
said allows presidents to control state National Guard troops only
during times of “rebellion or danger of a rebellion.”
“The protests in Los Angeles fall far short of ‘rebellion,’ ” wrote
Breyer, a Watergate prosecutor who was appointed by President Bill
Clinton and is the brother of retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen
Breyer.
National Guard stays in federal hands as lawsuit proceeds
The Trump administration argued that courts can’t second-guess the
president’s decisions. The appellate panel ruled otherwise, saying
presidents don’t have unfettered power to seize control of a state’s
guard, but the panel said that by citing violent acts by protesters in
this case, the Trump administration had presented enough evidence to
show it had a defensible rationale for federalizing the troops.
For now, the California National Guard will stay in federal hands as the
lawsuit proceeds. It is the first deployment by a president of a state
National Guard without the governor’s permission since troops were sent
to protect Civil Rights Movement marchers in 1965.
Trump celebrated the appellate ruling in a social media post, calling it
a “BIG WIN” and hinting at more potential deployments.
Newsom, for his part, has also warned that California won’t be the last
state to see troops in the streets if Trump gets his way.
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