A federal judge in California on Tuesday has ruled that the Trump administraion’s decision to deploy 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in June violated a 19th-century law barring the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement activities when it mobilized .
In a 52-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer found that the president and his administration breached the Posse Comitatus Act, a statute dating back to the 19th century that prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement.
At the time the troops were dispatched, Trump argued they were needed to safeguard federal buildings and agents during demonstrations sparked by immigration enforcement actions. The deployment led California Gov. Gavin Newsom to seek an injunction limiting federal intervention in the state.
In his written opinion, Breyer noted that both Trump and then–Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had signaled plans to use Guard units in other cities, raising the prospect of what he described as a “national police force with the President as its chief.” Breyer wrote: “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. In short, Defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act.” While acknowledging that some protesters engaged in violence, Breyer emphasized that the situation did not rise to the level of a rebellion and that civilian law enforcement was capable of maintaining order.
About the Posse Comitatus Act, Breyer wrote, “Nearly 140 years later, Defendants — President Trump, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, and the Department of Defense — deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, ostensibly to quell a rebellion and ensure that federal immigration law was enforced. There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence. Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.”
To prevent more violations of the law in California, Breyer blocked Trump and Hegseth from using troops there for “arrests, apprehensions, searches, seizures, security patrols, traffic control, crowd control, riot control, evidence collection, interrogation, or acting as informants.” Breyer stayed the ruling until Sept. 12 to allow the administration to appeal.
Gov. Newsom praised the ruling in a post on X (formerly Twitter), writing: “DONALD TRUMP LOSES AGAIN. The courts agree — his militarization of our streets and use of the military against U.S. citizens is ILLEGAL.”
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