An appeals court Friday evening rejected the Trump administration’s request to pause a lower court’s order prohibiting the deployment of National Guard soldiers in Los Angeles and Southern California as part of the federal crackdown on illegal immigration.
A three-judge panel for the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a “partial administrative stay” that allowed the district court order to stand, effectively taking troops off of the streets at the federal facility downtown and areas where troops might assist with immigration law enforcement activity.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta today celebrated the appeals court decision, which “means that, come Monday, there will be no National Guard troops deployed in California,” he said in a statement. “Let me repeat: For the first time in six months, there will be no military deployed on the streets of Los Angeles.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Wednesday U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ordered President Donald Trump to end the LA deployment and return control of California National Guard troops to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Breyer is an appointee of President Bill Clinton and the brother of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
“The Founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances. Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one,” Breyer wrote in his ruling earlier this week. “Six months after they first federalized the California National Guard, Defendants still retain control of approximately 300 Guardsmen, despite no evidence that execution of federal law is impeded in any way — let alone significantly.
“What’s more, Defendants have sent California Guardsmen into other states, effectively creating a national police force made up of state troops,” according to Breyer. “In response to Plaintiffs’ motion to enjoin this conduct, Defendants take the position that, after a valid initial federalization, all subsequent re-federalizations are completely, and forever, unreviewable by the courts. Defendants’ position is contrary to law.”
The appeals court did pause the portion of Breyer’s order that called for control of the Guard soldiers to return to Newsom.
“While this decision is not final, it is a gratifying and hard-fought step in the right direction,” Bonta said. “California did not ask to be a testing ground for the President’s militarized vision of America. There is no crisis to justify the National Guard’s continued presence, and we look forward to continuing to prove that in court.”
The appeals court ruling is available on the attorney general’s website.
