Newsom says he'll sue after Trump sends California Guard to Portland over protests
Cal Matters reports:
“ Gov. Gavin Newsom is vowing to sue after Trump sends 300 California Guard troops to Portland, saying Trump is using the military as a "political weapon."
On Nov. 4, Californians will decide whether the state should gerrymander its congressional districts.
President Donald Trump is deploying 300 California National Guard troops to Portland, Ore. after a federal judge temporarily denied Trump the ability to federalize the Oregon National Guard, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday. The governor said he will sue the federal government to halt the deployment.
“The commander-in-chief is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens. We will take this fight to court, but the public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the President of the United States,” said Newsom in a press release.
Spokespeople for Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta did not immediately reply to emailed questions about when the suit would be filed or what it would argue.
The dynamic is highly unusual, in no small part because Trump is essentially pulling troops from one state that has opposed his use of the National Guard to another state where political leaders also reject Trump’s moves.
Trump claims he needs to deploy federalized troops because the city of Portland is under siege by protesters opposing the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement actions.
But Karin Immergut, a federal judge in Oregon, wrote in her ruling Saturday that the protests there are “not significantly violent or disruptive” to justify Trump’s use of Oregon’s National Guard. Immergut, a Trump appointee, issued her decision as part of a temporary restraining order against the federal government after the state of Oregon and city of Portland sued the Trump administration last week.
Protesters there set up “a makeshift guillotine to intimidate federal officials” while other protesters flashed bright lights into the eyes of federal officials driving, Immergut summarized. “These incidents are inexcusable, but they are nowhere near the type of incidents that cannot be handled by regular law enforcement forces,” Immergut wrote. The Trump administration on Saturday appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson did not directly confirm whether California troops have been sent to Oregon, but said in an email that “President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement.”
Trump sent thousands of troops into L.A.
California sued Trump in June after the president ultimately federalized 4,000 of the state’s National Guard troops and 700 Marines to protect federal property and provide support for federal immigration law enforcement officers after protests across Los Angeles County erupted over immigration sweeps.
A district judge, appointed by a Democrat, sided with Newsom by issuing a temporary restraining order against Trump’s use of the National Guard in June. But a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked that decision, giving Trump control of the federal troops again.
The 300 California National Guard troops Trump is deploying to Oregon are a holdover from his June activation.
Trump has characterized Portland and other Democratic-run cities as dangerous, high-crime zones and last week told a gathering of U.S. generals that the military should “use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”
The Oregon judge’s decision doesn’t conflict with the higher court’s reasons for returning the federal troops to Trump, said Kelly Simon, a legal director at the ACLU of Oregon, during a press conference. The appeals court said judges can review such military decisions, refuting an argument by Trump administration lawyers.
And while the “courts have to give a substantial deference” to a president’s decision to deploy National Guard troops to a state against the wishes of a governor, the White House still has to make that “determination rooted in fact,” Simon said. “The president’s determination was untethered from the facts.”
The California federal lower court judge also ruled in September that federal troops were used for law enforcement purposes, a violation of a 19th century law banning the military from such activity. “There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence,” wrote Judge Charles Breyer.
“Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.” He blocked the Trump administration from using the military to engage in “arrests, apprehensions, searches, seizures, security patrols, traffic control, crowd control, riot control, evidence collection, interrogation, or acting as informants, unless and until” the administration presents valid constitutional or legal exceptions.
The Trump administration has also appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.”
“ Gov. Gavin Newsom is vowing to sue after Trump sends 300 California Guard troops to Portland, saying Trump is using the military as a "political weapon."
On Nov. 4, Californians will decide whether the state should gerrymander its congressional districts.
President Donald Trump is deploying 300 California National Guard troops to Portland, Ore. after a federal judge temporarily denied Trump the ability to federalize the Oregon National Guard, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday. The governor said he will sue the federal government to halt the deployment.
“The commander-in-chief is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens. We will take this fight to court, but the public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the President of the United States,” said Newsom in a press release.
Spokespeople for Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta did not immediately reply to emailed questions about when the suit would be filed or what it would argue.
The dynamic is highly unusual, in no small part because Trump is essentially pulling troops from one state that has opposed his use of the National Guard to another state where political leaders also reject Trump’s moves.
Trump claims he needs to deploy federalized troops because the city of Portland is under siege by protesters opposing the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement actions.
But Karin Immergut, a federal judge in Oregon, wrote in her ruling Saturday that the protests there are “not significantly violent or disruptive” to justify Trump’s use of Oregon’s National Guard. Immergut, a Trump appointee, issued her decision as part of a temporary restraining order against the federal government after the state of Oregon and city of Portland sued the Trump administration last week.
Protesters there set up “a makeshift guillotine to intimidate federal officials” while other protesters flashed bright lights into the eyes of federal officials driving, Immergut summarized. “These incidents are inexcusable, but they are nowhere near the type of incidents that cannot be handled by regular law enforcement forces,” Immergut wrote. The Trump administration on Saturday appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson did not directly confirm whether California troops have been sent to Oregon, but said in an email that “President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement.”
Trump sent thousands of troops into L.A.
California sued Trump in June after the president ultimately federalized 4,000 of the state’s National Guard troops and 700 Marines to protect federal property and provide support for federal immigration law enforcement officers after protests across Los Angeles County erupted over immigration sweeps.
A district judge, appointed by a Democrat, sided with Newsom by issuing a temporary restraining order against Trump’s use of the National Guard in June. But a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked that decision, giving Trump control of the federal troops again.
The 300 California National Guard troops Trump is deploying to Oregon are a holdover from his June activation.
Trump has characterized Portland and other Democratic-run cities as dangerous, high-crime zones and last week told a gathering of U.S. generals that the military should “use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”
The Oregon judge’s decision doesn’t conflict with the higher court’s reasons for returning the federal troops to Trump, said Kelly Simon, a legal director at the ACLU of Oregon, during a press conference. The appeals court said judges can review such military decisions, refuting an argument by Trump administration lawyers.
And while the “courts have to give a substantial deference” to a president’s decision to deploy National Guard troops to a state against the wishes of a governor, the White House still has to make that “determination rooted in fact,” Simon said. “The president’s determination was untethered from the facts.”
The California federal lower court judge also ruled in September that federal troops were used for law enforcement purposes, a violation of a 19th century law banning the military from such activity. “There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence,” wrote Judge Charles Breyer.
“Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.” He blocked the Trump administration from using the military to engage in “arrests, apprehensions, searches, seizures, security patrols, traffic control, crowd control, riot control, evidence collection, interrogation, or acting as informants, unless and until” the administration presents valid constitutional or legal exceptions.
The Trump administration has also appealed that decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.”
