


The Trump administration said in a court filing Wednesday that it will appeal a federal judge’s Tuesday ruling that the deployed National Guard troops in Los Angeles unlawfully acted as a police force.
The filing marks the second time the administration has appealed a ruling from U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in the lawsuit filed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and other California officials over the deployment of federal troops to LA in June. Breyer’s Tuesday ruling found the Trump administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law that prevents federal troops from being used for regular law enforcement activities.
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The Tuesday ruling blocks deployed troops in Los Angeles from enforcing domestic laws, including “engaging in arrests, apprehensions, searches, seizures, security patrols, traffic control, crowd control, riot control, evidence collection, interrogation, or acting as informants.” Breyer paused the ruling from going into effect until noon local time on Sept. 12 to allow the administration to seek an appeal.
During the three-day trial in August, the Trump administration argued that federal troops deployed to LA, including the National Guard, were “serving a purely protective function” and lawfully protecting federal property and personnel.
Breyer seemed unconvinced by the Trump Department of Justice’s arguments during the trial, ultimately siding with California officials’ arguments that the deployed federal troops enforced laws rather than simply protecting federal officials and property.
The Trump administration won at the 9th Circuit in June, when a three-judge panel unanimously blocked Breyer’s prior ruling that the administration unlawfully federalized and deployed the California National Guard to quell unrest in LA over immigration operations. The three-judge panel included two Trump appointees and an appointee of former President Joe Biden.
JUDGE RULES TRUMP DEPLOYMENT OF NATIONAL GUARD TO LOS ANGELES VIOLATED FEDERAL LAW
However, Breyer still weighed what he said was the separate question of whether the Trump administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act with its deployed troops. He found he still had jurisdiction to decide that part of the California officials’ lawsuit.
The Wednesday appeal comes as Newsom asked Breyer to enter a preliminary injunction blocking an Aug. 5 order federalizing 300 California National Guard troops and return control of those troops to the state, despite the legal challenge over the June order federalizing California National Guard troops still pending before the 9th Circuit.