Federal Judge Will Hear Arguments Over Troop Deployment in California

New York Times

a day ago

The Trump administration will square off with the state of California in a federal district courthouse on Thursday over the White House's deployment of federal troops to Los Angeles in the name of protecting immigration enforcement operations from protesters.
In a hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Pacific time, a Federal District Court judge in San Francisco will hear arguments in a lawsuit filed on Monday by the state and its governor, Gavin Newsom, against President Trump's move, which included taking control of up to 4,000 California National Guard troops and sending in 700 Marines.
The Democratic-controlled state has requested a temporary restraining order that would limit the troops to guarding federal buildings in Los Angeles, with no other law enforcement responsibilities.
That would mean the troops could not accompany Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on the sort of workplace raids in the region that sparked the protests. Thus far, National Guard troops have primarily stood outside federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles during protests, while the Marines have been preparing for deployment in the region.
Mr. Newsom has argued that the troops are unnecessary and inflaming a situation that local law enforcement officers can handle, and that he would deploy the state's National Guard himself should more force become necessary. The lawsuit says the Trump administration has violated federal law by bypassing Mr. Newsom in seizing control of the guard and is trammeling states' rights under the 10th Amendment.
The Justice Department in turn has argued that the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, did not need to ask Mr. Newsom to consent to the guard call-up. More broadly, it has argued that Mr. Trump has inherent constitutional power to use troops to protect federal agents and federal law enforcement functions.
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