SAN FRANCISCO
Moments after US President Donald Trump announced the deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., a federal judge in San Francisco heard arguments on Monday about whether the administration violated federal law by mobilizing troops to Los Angeles this summer.
The federal government claims that the National Guard and Marines were only deployed to assist immigration officials who were hampered by large-scale protests throughout the city in early June, according to NBC News.
California sued the Trump administration for an “unwarranted deployment” and won an early victory, with the initial ruling determining that the federal government violated the 10th Amendment.
The federal government appealed the decision, arguing that courts cannot second-guess the president’s orders. The US Department of Justice secured a temporary halt to the ruling, allowing Trump to maintain control of the California National Guard.
The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the president from using the military as a domestic police force, serves as a foundation for the case. The case, which is expected to continue through Wednesday, could set a precedent for how the Trump administration handles future deployments of federal troops domestically.
Trump announced on Monday that he is placing local police in the nation’s capital under federal control and deploying the National Guard to deal with what he described as a “public safety emergency.”
