San Francisco Senior US District Judge Charles Breyer found the Republican administration violated the 19th-century Posse Comitatus Act — which bars the military from enforcing domestic laws — when it dispatched the state’s soldiers over California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s protests.
The ruling does not require the removal of the 300 Guardsmen still in Los Angeles and does not take effect until Friday, allowing the Trump administration time to appeal.
“There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence,” wrote Breyer, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton and the younger brother of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. “Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.”
“In short, defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act,” the ruling reads.
After Newsom sued to block the use of the troops in June, Breyer issued an emergency order finding the mobilization was likely unconstitutional. However, an appeals court overturned Breyer’s ruling hours later, allowing the Trump administraiton to keep control of the state troops.
Breyer’s Tuesday ruling followed a three-day bench trial last month.
Trump has warned he would use the soldiers in other Golden State cities like Oakland and San Francisco, which would create “a national police force with the President as its chief,” Breyer wrote.
“Because there is an ongoing risk that Defendants will act unlawfully and thereby injure Plaintiffs, Governor Newsom and the State of California, the Court enjoins defendants from violating the Posse Comitatus Act,” the ruling reads.
The Trump administration has also said it may mobilize the National Guard in New York, Chicago, and Baltimore.
The president formally sent DC National Guard troops into the streets of the nation’s capital Aug. 11 as part of his effort to restore law and order there.
Breyer specifically noted that his order only applies to California and “not nationally.”
Newsom relished Tuesday’s ruling in a post on X, saying in an all-caps: “DONALD TRUMP LOSES AGAIN. The courts agree — his militarization of our streets and use of the military against US citizens is ILLEGAL.”
Meanwhile, Acting Los Angeles US Attorney Bill Essayli blasted the ruling in his own post on X, saying that the military would remain in LA.
Newsom relished Tuesday’s ruling in a post on X, saying in an all-caps: “DONALD TRUMP LOSES AGAIN. The courts agree — his militarization of our streets and use of the military against US citizens is ILLEGAL.”
“This is a false narrative and a misleading injunction,” Essayli wrote. “The military has never engaged in direct law enforcement operations here in LA. They protect our federal employees our properties so our federal agents can safely enforce federal laws.”
Los Angeles lawyer Neama Rahmani told The Post Breyer’s ruling couldn’t be used as precedent in other states seeking to block any potential use of soldiers there.
Instead, the case is “very, very likely going to end up in the Supreme Court” for review, Rahmani said.
“This is an issue of Constitutional significance,” he explained. “This is exactly what the Supreme Court is supposed to weigh in on.”
Rahmani noted that the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had already overturned Breyer once and said they would likely pause his newest ruling while the federal government appeals it.
“I think the 9th Circuit will issue another stay again and not only that, they will reverse Breyer’s ruling,” Rahmani predicted.
The LA riots began on June 6 as lawful demonstrations against a series of ICE raids that resulted in the arrests of over 100 illegal immigrants.