Police and national guards take measures as thousands of anti-ICE protesters are gathered outside of the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on June 9, 2025 amid protests over immigration raids.
Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu | Getty Images
A federal judge late Thursday ruled that the federalization of parts of California’s National Guard by President Donald Trump was “illegal,” and ordered Trump to return control of the Guard to state Gov. Gavin Newsom “forthwith.”
But Judge Charles Breyer stayed his temporary restraining order from taking effect until 3 p.m. ET on Friday to allow the Trump administration to appeal his decision. The administration promptly did just that, asking the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to block Breyer’s ruling from taking effect.
Trump, over the past week, had federalized 4,000 members of the California National Guard, and mobilized another approximately 700 U.S. Marines to respond to protests in Los Angeles against federal immigration enforcement actions.
Newsom and California’s attorney general sued to reverse Trump’s federalization of the Guard without the consent of the governor, the first time in U.S. history a president had taken such an action.
Breyer’s order came hours after a hearing held in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, where he sharply questioned lawyers for the federal government on Trump’s rationale and authority for the move.
At one point, the judge said, “We live in response to a monarchy,” noting that there is a difference between the president and King George III, the British monarch on the throne at the time of the American Revolution.
“At this early stage of the proceedings, the Court must determine whether the President followed the congressionally mandated procedure for his actions. He did not,” Breyer wrote in his order.
“His actions were illegal — both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the judge wrote. “He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”
Breyer said that none of the three conditions required for Trump’s federalization of the Guard under a certain federal statute existed, namely the U.S. having been invaded or in danger of being invaded; a “rebellion” against the federal government; or the president being unable to execute U.S. laws.
“The protests in Los Angeles fall far short of ‘rebellion,’ ” Breyer wrote.
And he said that “regardless” of the outcome of California’s lawsuit against the administration, Trump’s federalizing of the Guard without the consent of Newsom “alone threatens serious injury to the constitutional balance of power between the federal and state governments.”
“And it sets a dangerous precedent for future domestic military activity,” Breyer added.
Breyer scheduled a hearing for June 20, where lawyers for the federal government will be asked to argue why the judge should not issue a more lasting preliminary injunction against Trump’s action.
Newsom praised the order, and his office also tweeted a video showing the “Death Star,” built by the evil Empire in the “Star Wars” movie series, exploding in space after it was attacked by forces of the Rebel Alliance.
“The court just confirmed what we all know — the military belongs on the battlefield, not on our city streets,” Newsom said in a post on X.
“This win is not just for California, but the nation,” Newsom wrote. “It’s a check on a man whose authoritarian tendencies are increasing by the day. End the illegal militarization of Los Angeles now, @realDonaldTrump.”
“History is watching.”
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