California asks court to end federalization of National Guard

By Dave Mason
The Center Square

California officials Friday renewed their motion for a judge to end the federalized deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles.

Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom filed the motion for a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The action seeks to return the federalized California National Guard troops to Newsom’s control. Bonta and Newsom say there’s no basis for the Aug. 5 order that extended the federalization of the National Guard.

Newsom is listed as the complaint’s plaintiff. President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth are named as defendants.

“There have been soldiers deployed to the Los Angeles area for more than five months, with current orders for continued deployment at least until February 2026 (and subject to further extension),” according to the motion. “After using isolated incidents of violence in June as a pretext to federalize the California National Guard, Defendants have now implemented a months-long military occupation, without any justification, and with no apparent end in sight.

“Even if events in June justified the initial federalization and deployment of the military in Los Angeles, there is no lawful basis for keeping troops there now,” the 21-page motion continues. “The June violence has long since subsided. Yet still, troops remain in the Nation’s second-largest city.”

In a news release Friday, Bonta accused the Trump administration of extending the federalization of the National Guard without any justification.

“We’re asking the courts — again — to step in, because this isn’t politics, it’s a threat to our democracy and to the safety of the Americans we serve,” Newsom said.

The Center Square reached out Friday to the U.S. Department of Justice and Pentagon for comment, but did not get a response.

In Friday’s court motion, Bonta and Newsom accused the Trump administration of treating the president’s June 7 memorandum federalizing the National Guard “as a blank check” to federalize National Guard troops and send them anywhere in the U.S.

The motion later says, “Approximately 200 members of California’s National Guard are currently hundreds of miles away, in another State, hindering their capacity to respond to emergencies within California.” That’s a reference to 200 troops who were initially deployed in Los Angeles and are now in Oregon. Another 14 troops were originally sent from California to Oregon but are now stationed in Illinois.

The Trump administration initially deployed about 4,000 federalized California National Guard troops and 700 Marines in Los Angeles after protests against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests turned violent in June.

The motion said the Trump administration’s decision to move 214 troops to other states shows it knows there’s no need to federalize National Guard troops in California.

In September, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer ruled against Trump’s deployment of the California National Guard and Marines. Breyer, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, ruled the military could continue to guard federal facilities but could not be used for law enforcement. Breyer said the federal use of National Guard for crowd control and set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades violates the Posse Comitatus Act, the 1878 federal law that prohibits the use of the U.S. military to enforce domestic law.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in September blocked Breyer’s stay of the deployment. But on Oct. 29, the same court ruled the U.S. District Court for Northern California has jurisdiction in the case.

The Posse Comitatus Act allows Congress to pass laws to use military in case of domestic unrest, protection of federal property and enforcement of some federal laws and court orders, according to an abstract on a 1987 Journal of Criminal Justice article. The U.S. Department of Justice published the abstract on its website, ojp.gov.

Newsom’s office has also argued about costs. It said Trump’s deployment of the California National Guard in Los Angeles is costing taxpayers nearly $120 million. The office said the figure was provided by the California National Guard at the governor’s request.

The Secretary of War’s Office told The Center Square in September that the Department of War would have no cost figures “until after the mission is completed.”