A US appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump can keep control of National Guard troops he deployed to Los Angeles, despite objections from city leaders and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Trump deployed the troops in response to widespread protests against his immigration crackdown. Local officials called it an unnecessary provocation.
A three-judge panel on Thursday said he was within his rights to order the troops into service to “protect federal personnel… [and] property”. Trump called it a “big win”.
The decision halts a ruling from a lower court judge who found Trump acted illegally when mobilising the troops.
In that earlier ruling, Judge Charles Breyer said Trump “did not” follow the law set by Congress on the deployment of a state’s National Guard.
“His actions were illegal… He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith,” he wrote in his decision.
The judge however stayed the order until 13 June to give the Trump administration time to appeal against it, which it did almost immediately after.
Thursday’s unanimous ruling said Trump’s “failure to issue the federalisation order directly ‘through’ the Governor of California does not limit his otherwise lawful authority to call up the National Guard”.
“This is much bigger than Gavin [Newsom], because all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done,” Trump wrote on social media after the decision.
He also congratulated the court, adding: “America is proud of you tonight!”
The 38-page ruling, however, said the judges disagreed with the president on the merits of the legal challenge against his use of the National Guard. It said his decision to use the troops was not “completely insulated from judicial review”.
Newsom responded to the decision, saying the court “rightly rejected Trump’s claim that he can do whatever he wants with the National Guard and not have to explain himself to a court.
“We will not let this authoritarian use of military soldiers against citizens go unchecked”, he wrote on X, adding: “Donald Trump is not a king and not above the law.”
The court’s decision allows for the continued deployment of around 4,000 troops to Los Angeles. The Trump administration says they have been protecting federal immigration agents and federal property during raids.
It said it took over California’s National Guard to restore order and to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as they conducted raids across Los Angeles to detain people they believed were in the country illegally.
Trump also ordered 700 Marines to the city, despite Newsom’s objections.
The National Guard was last deployed by a president without a governor’s consent during the civil rights era more than 50 years ago.
