California is suing the federal government for deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles to help deal with immigration protests and riots.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday that they filed the lawsuit against President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Driving the news: Trump sent around hundreds of National Guard troops to Los Angeles early Sunday and authorized 2,000 in total for a 60-day period.
- Protestors blocked freeways, threw rocks at California Highway Patrol officers and cars and set self-driving Waymo cars on fire on Sunday.
The big picture: Newsom and Bonta argue in the lawsuit that Trump’s action exceeds the authority of the federal government and violates the 10th Amendment.
- They said in the lawsuit that this is the first time a president has used Title 10 authority to call on the National Guard since President Richard Nixon called on the National Guard to deliver the mail during the 1970 Postal Service Strike.
- It’s also the first time since 1965 when a President has activated a state’s National Guard without a request from the state’s governor. President Lyndon B. Johnson did so in 1965 to protect civil rights protestors in Alabama.
- They also argue in the lawsuit that Trump’s action infringes on Newsom’s role as Commander-in-Chief of the California National Guard.
What they’re saying: Newsom said Trump “is creating fear and terror” by sending the National Guard to Los Angeles.
- “This is a manufactured crisis to allow him to take over a state militia, damaging the very foundation of our republic,” Newsom said. “Every governor, red or blue, should reject this outrageous overreach. This is beyond incompetence – this is him intentionally causing chaos, terrorizing communities, and endangering the principles of our great democracy. It is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism. We will not let this stand.”
- Trump posted on Truth Social that “Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated” if he did not send the National Guard in to deal with the rioters.
- “The very incompetent ‘Governor,’ Gavin Newscum, and ‘Mayor,’ Karen Bass, should be saying, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR.’ Instead, they choose to lie to the People of California and America by saying that we weren’t needed, and that these are ‘peaceful protests.’ Just one look at the pictures and videos of the Violence and Destruction tells you all you have to know,” Trump posted. “We will always do what is needed to keep our Citizens SAFE, so we can, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!.”
