Judge rules Trump’s use of National Guard in Los Angeles is illegal

Donald Trump is facing another legal setback. A federal court ruled on Tuesday that the deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles, ordered by the U.S. president for law enforcement duties, was illegal.

Judge Charles Breyer considers that the measure violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the military from performing police functions, and has barred the deployed soldiers from participating in security patrols, riot control, arrests, searches, or crowd management. However, the ruling will not take effect until September 12, to give the government time to appeal.

According to the judge, the use of federal troops for these functions amounts to creating “a national police force with the president as its chief.”

This violates the Posse Comitatus Act, signed in 1878, which prohibits troops from performing law enforcement duties. The law reflects the U.S. tradition that considers military intervention in civil matters a threat to democracy and individual liberties.

“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,” the judge wrote.

Breyer notes that an exception is provided by the 218-year-old Insurrection Act, which authorizes the president to deploy the National Guard in the event of rebellion against the government in any of the states. However, the law specifies that a presidential order must come “either by request by [the affected] state legislature or governor, by findings of the courts, or by the inability or unwillingness of local officials to act.”

Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles despite opposition from California Governor Gavin Newsom last June, in response to protests against his strict immigration policy, particularly raids to apprehend undocumented immigrants in the city.

Since ordering that deployment, the president has often boasted that, had he not done so, Los Angeles would have descended into chaos and today would be a “completely obliterated” city.

After the National Guard deployment in June, Trump ordered a similar measure in Washington on August 11. In the case of the capital, the president argued that the levels of violence were so out of control that a national emergency declaration was necessary.

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