The Fickle Fate of California's National Guard: Trump's Temporary Victory in the Court of Appeals
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Trump retains command over California's National Guard, as per Court of Appeals decision - Trump maintains authority over the California National Guard.
Judge Charles Breyer, in a bold move, categorized President Trump's verdict to deploy the National Guard against the wishes of California's Governor Newsom as illegal. ordering an immediate relinquishment of control of California's National Guard to the state. The judge opined that the protests in California bore no resemblance to the "rebellion" Trump claimed to justify the deployment in the first place.
However, the Justice Department views Breyer's decision as an "extraordinary intrusion" into the president's authority and appealed the ruling. The argument put forth by the Department of Justice is that the president's authority as Commander-in-Chief was violated by Breyer's decision, and it petitioned the Court of Appeals for review.
With the Court of Appeals scheduling a hearing for the upcoming Tuesday and imposing a stay on Breyer's order, Trump maintains control over the National Guard in California. This means that the soldiers will continue to govern California's escalating protests against the administration's hardline immigration policy this coming Saturday.
California Governor Newsom welcomed Breyer's ruling with open arms, asserting, "Trump is not a monarch, he is not a king, and he should stop acting like one."
The Republican's recourse to Title 10, a rarely used piece of legislation, underpinned his decision to dispatch the National Guard to Los Angeles. Typically, the governor directs the mobilization of the National Guard to provide aid in times of natural disasters or other exceptional circumstances.
Trump, in his justification for the step, contended that the protests against his handling of immigrants were beyond control, stating that Los Angeles was "burning." Newsom vehemently opposed the deployment, warning it could exacerbate the situation. Nonetheless, Trump issued the order regardless. The last incident of a president, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, mobilizing the National Guard against a governor's wishes, was to safeguard civil rights activists in Alabama.
Title 10 permits the deployment of the National Guard in cases of "a rebellion or the danger of a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States," but does not grant the troops police responsibilities.
The initial, peaceful protests in Los Angeles, numbering in the thousands, erupted on Friday. There were instances of isolated violence on the outskirts of the protests. The city enforced a curfew in certain neighborhoods. A flurry of similar demonstrations has been noticed in other cities, including Las Vegas, Dallas, Austin, Chicago, Atlanta, and Boston, in recent days. The protests rage against the martial deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who have been forcibly rounding up immigrants in unmarked vehicles since Trump took office, with the goal of deportation.
Meanwhile, a controversial incident unfolded when California Senator Alex Padilla was manhandled out of a press conference by security guards for attempting to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "I am Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the Minister," the Democratic politician asserted before being escorted out of the conference room. A video reveals security officers then dragging Padilla to the ground in the hallway and cuffing him.
Governor Gavin Newsom described the incident as "outrageous, dictatorial, and shameful." Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass echoed her outrage. "The violent attacks by this government on our city must cease," she declared.
In the ongoing political conflict, Governor Gavin Newsom denounces President Trump's actions as "dictatorial and shameful," following an incident where Senator Alex Padilla was physically removed from a press conference. This incident occurred amidst ongoing protests in Los Angeles against the martial deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Meanwhile, the Court of Appeals is scheduled to review the appeal filed by the Department of Justice over Judge Charles Breyer's ruling that Trump's deployment of the National Guard without California's Governor Newsom's consent was illegal. Although the Court of Appeals imposed a stay on Breyer's order, the controversy surrounding the legality of the US President's actions in the matter of war-and-conflicts and policy-and-legislation remains a topic of general-news interest.
