Politics
JUST IN: Trump Vindicated By Appeals Court After Federal Judge’s Ruling
Hours after the brother of a liberal former U.S. Supreme Court justice blocked the federalization of California National Guard soldiers, an appeals court has offered President Donald Trump a reprieve.
Thursday was a setback for Trump’s plan to restore law and order to the streets of Los Angeles following days of devastating immigration riots. In a rebuking opinion, federal Judge Charles Breyer ordered Trump to return control of 4,000 National Guardsmen to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“While Defendants have pointed to several instances of violence, they have not identified a violent, armed, organized, open and avowed uprising against the government as a whole,” Breyer concluded in a 36-page opinion. “The definition of rebellion is unmet.”
However, an appeals court has now set for June 17 a second hearing for the U.S. Department of Justice to again make its case that the riots were more than simple civil unrest. Federal prosecutors have equated violence in L.A. with the riots that rocked major cities following the 2020 death of George Floyd.
The three-member panel included two Trump appointees and one appointed by former President Joe Biden. The short-term decision will allow Trump to keep his troops in place at least until next Tuesday.
The president has cited in court papers a federal statute he argued gives him unconstricted authority to “execute” federal laws when there is “danger of a rebellion.” That argument was rejected by Breyer, the younger brother of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
“The idea that protesters can so quickly cross the line between protected conduct and ‘rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States’ is untenable and dangerous,” the judge concluded, according to Politico.
He also noted that federal immigration authorities were able to conduct raids following some of the protests that later turned violent.
“Whether ICE could have detained more people in the absence of the protests is mere conjecture — Defendants provide no support for that assertion,” he noted. “Even assuming that Defendants are correct, however, the statute does not allow for the federalizing of the National Guard when the President faces obstacles that cause him to underperform in executing the laws … The statute requires that the President be ‘unable’ to execute the laws of the United States. That did not happen here.”
Newsom, who has publicly sparred with Trump over his order, celebrated Breyer’s decision as a “big day for the Constitution” and said he was confident that it would withstand an appeal.
“The National Guard men and women will go back to their day jobs,” he said.
Trump, of course, feels differently.
“The Appeals Court ruled last night that I can use the National Guard to keep our cities, in this case Los Angeles, safe. If I didn’t send the Military into Los Angeles, that city would be burning to the ground right now. We saved L.A. Thank you for the Decision!!!” he wrote on Truth Social early Friday morning.
