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By Nick Mordowanec
Staff Writer
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Judge Charles Breyer ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump's use of the National Guard to quell immigration protests in Los Angeles over the summer is illegal and "violated" a nearly 150-year-old federal law.
The U.S. Department of Defense deferred comment to the White House.
"Once again, a rogue judge is trying to usurp the authority of the Commander-in-Chief to protect American cities from violence and destruction," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Newsweek via email. "President Trump saved Los Angeles, which was overrun by deranged leftist lunatics sowing mass chaos until he stepped in.
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"While far-left courts try to stop President Trump from carrying out his mandate to Make America Safe Again, the President is committed to protecting law-abiding citizens, and this will not be the final say on the issue."
Why It Matters
The ruling comes as contention builds nationally around the conversation of crime, illegal immigration and the federal government's willingness to deploy and use the National Guard in places including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., with cities like Chicago also being threatened.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is deploying state police officers to places like San Francisco, which Trump previously mentioned as a possible future deployment area for federal troops.
Up to 1,700 National Guard troops could soon be deployed in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming to aid with ICE efforts, Fox News reported last week, citing documents and unnamed Pentagon officials.
The Trump administration reportedly stated that such efforts have no relation to the ongoing crime crackdown in the nation's capital.
What To Know
Breyer's ruling on Tuesday in the Northern District of California, granting an injunction, cites Congress's passage of the Posse Comitatus Act in 1878, which prohibits the use of the U.S. military to execute domestic law. In June, the judge oversaw a three-day trial in a case brought about by Newsom challenging Trump's use of Title 10 to deploy troops to Los Angeles.
"Nearly 140 years later, Defendants—President Trump, Secretary of Defense [Pete] 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," Breyer wrote.
"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."
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Breyer also wrote in the 52-page ruling that nearly three months after National Guard troops were first deployed to Los Angeles, 300 National Guard members remain stationed there.
"Moreover, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have stated their intention to call National Guard troops into federal service in other cities across the country—including Oakland and San Francisco, here in the Northern District of California—thus creating a national police force with the President as its chief," he said.
Last week, Newsom announced that he dispatched California Highway Patrol "crime suppression teams" to multiple major regions, including Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, the Inland Empire and the Central Valley, as his administration contrasted the state-led deployments with Trump's unilateral use of federal forces in U.S. cities.
Who Is Judge Charles Breyer?
Breyer, 83, is a senior U.S. district judge for the Northern District of California. From 2018 to 2022, he served as chairman of the United States Sentencing Commission.
Breyer was an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force from August 1973 to November 1974, prior to entering private practice in San Francisco from 1974 to 1997. He briefly served as chief assistant district attorney of the City and County of San Francisco in 1979.
On July 24, 1997, President Bill Clinton nominated Breyer for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 8, 1997.
Appeals Could Reach U.S. Supreme Court
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that the ruling was somewhat unexpected, considering that a three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit had previously overruled Breyer and said that Trump lawfully federalized the California National Guard under a different statute, Title 10, rather than the 10 U.S.C. § 12406 statute.
"[Breyer's] trying to pigeonhole it through a different statute," Rahmani said. "Historically, presidents have a lot of leeway when it comes to law enforcement; the executive branch [does] in general. In this particular case, Trump relied on a different statute...I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up in the Supreme Court. It's a pretty important issue."
Trump's ambitions to deploy troops to other states could still take place while any appeals for a stay could be filed by the Department of Justice, Rahmani added.
"You can very well have judges that have completely different rulings in different states, in which case you'd have these circuit splits and the Supreme Court would have to weigh in," he said.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump, Tuesday on Truth Social: "At least 54 people were shot in Chicago over the weekend, 8 people were killed...Pritzker needs help badly, he just doesn't know it yet. I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC. Chicago will be safe again, & soon. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
California Governor Gavin Newsom, Tuesday on X: "The ruling is clear: Trump is breaking the law by trying to create a national police force with himself as its chief."
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on X: "I applaud the court for today's important ruling. The White House tried to invade the second largest city in the country. That's illegal. Los Angeles will not buckle and we will not break. We will not be divided and we will not be defeated.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said before signing an executive order on Saturday: "We may see militarized immigration enforcement. We may also see National Guard troops. We may even see active duty military and armed vehicles in our streets. We have not called for this. Our people have not asked for this, but nevertheless, we find ourselves having to respond to this."
What Happens Next
Breyer froze the injunction until noon on September 12, which could provide the Trump administration with time to challenge the ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
Update 9/2/25, 1:01 p.m. ET: This article was updated with remarks from the White House.
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