‘Big Win’: CNN Expert Drops Bomb, Reveals Federal Judges Could Soon Be Powerless Against Trump

The fallout from Friday’s appeals court ruling vindicating President Donald Trump continues, with one CNN legal analyst predicting that California Governor Gavin Newsom may soon render federal judges powerless should he choose to keep up the fight.

Elie Honig, a top legal contributor for the network, concurred with the ruling by an appeals court, which found that Trump had the authority to overrule Newsom and deploy soldiers to the streets of Los Angeles four days into a series of violent protests that rocked the nation’s second-largest city.

Newsom now must choose whether to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Honig explained why that would be unwise.

“If I was in California’s legal position here, I would tell the governor, you don’t wanna appeal this. You don’t wanna bring this up to the Supreme Court,” he said on Friday. “I think you’re going to lose.”

A three-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that, while presidents do not carry unlimited authority to deploy soldiers domestically, in this case, the Trump administration successfully proved that violence in L.A. — combined with feckless leadership by Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass — necessitated federal action.

If Newsom takes his case to the high court, he might lose more than just the justices in the conservative wing, Honig predicted.

“I think if you look at this opinion, it was a three-to-zero unanimous opinion from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. You had two Trump appointees and a Biden appointee on that court. I don’t see any way any of the six conservatives on the Supreme Court say ‘sure, a trial-level district judge can overrule the president on this issue just because he disagrees.'”

“I even think some of the liberals might join with the conservatives on this, as we saw with the Biden appointee,” he added.

Not only would a national defeat batter Newsom’s ability to run for president in 2028, it could also potentially quell federal judges’ injunctions against Trump’s policies nationwide, Honig suggested.

“If they do bring it up to the Supreme Court, California, and if the Supreme Court again rules in favor of the Trump administration, then that’s going to be nationwide, an even bigger loss for California,” concluded Honig.

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Honig echoed those remarks on “The Situation Room” while speaking with Kate Bolduan, the Daily Caller reported.

“It’s huge, Pam, because it goes to presidential powers and the extent of them. So the core ruling here from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is yes, the federal courts have some role in reviewing the president’s decision to deploy the National Guard, however, the courts cannot just second guess the president and overturn him if they disagree,” Honig said. “The court of appeals says ‘we, all of us, in the federal judiciary, we have to give very broad deference to the president, so unless his decision is patently absurd or based on bad faith, then we have to step back and let the president exercise this power. So it’s a big win for President Trump.”

On Wednesday, Mayor Bass lifted an 8 p.m. curfew that had been imposed for days after violence in the protests had mostly dissipated. National Guard and Marine soldiers have remained for the time being, leaving President Trump with an optical win as soldiers patrol calm streets across L.A.