Decision comes as California Governor Gavin Newsom proceeds with lawsuit challenging legality of president's takeover
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump can retain control of the California National Guard as the state's Governor Gavin Newsom proceeds with a lawsuit challenging the legality of the president's federalization of troops.
The three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco extended a pause that it placed on US District Judge Charles Breyer's ruling on June 12 that Trump's takeover of the National Guard was unlawful and unconstitutional, according to multiple media reports.
In the unsigned ruling, the 9th Circuit panel said "that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority" under the federal law he invoked to federalize the guardsmen.
On June 7, Trump began the mobilization of nearly 4,000 California National Guard troops and 700 US Marines to quell unrest in Los Angeles after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids initiated by the president in the country's second-largest city.
Breyer ruled that Trump violated US law governing a president's ability to take control of a state's National Guard by failing to coordinate with the governor and ordered Trump to return control of California's National Guard to Newsom.
Just hours after Breyer's ruling, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily put that ruling on hold.
Breyer has not yet ruled on the legality of the Marine Corps mobilization.
At a court hearing earlier this week on whether to extend the pause on Breyer's decision, the 9th Circuit panel questioned lawyers for both parties on what role, if any, courts should have in reviewing Trump's authority to deploy the troops.
According to US law, there are three conditions under which a president can federalize state National Guard forces: an invasion, a "rebellion or danger of a rebellion" against the government, or a situation in which the United States government is unable to execute the country's laws with regular forces.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) argued that once the president determines an emergency that warrants the use of the National Guard exists, no court or state governor can review that decision.
Newsom argued that Trump's deployment of the National Guard and the Marines violated the state's sovereignty and that US laws prohibit federal troops from taking part in civilian law enforcement.
The governor's lawsuit also stated that the situation in Los Angeles was nothing like a "rebellion" and that the protests involved sporadic acts of violence that state and local law enforcement were capable of handling without military involvement.
The Trump administration has said that the National Guard troops are not engaging in law enforcement but are instead protecting federal buildings and personnel, including ICE agents.
While the latest ruling extends the pause on Breyer's original ruling until the legal challenge plays out in court, the state of California has the option of asking the US Supreme Court to step in on an emergency basis.
