California governor sues Trump over National Guard deployment in LA

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — California Governor Gavin Newsom sued President Donald Trump Monday over mobilizing the National Guard in the wake of the Los Angeles protests that erupted over the weekend over the president’s immigration actions.

According to Newsom, the U.S. Constitution dictates that presidents may only call members of a state National Guard into federal service via the governor of that state. Trump’s Saturday memorandum calling the National Guard in was therefore unlawful, he says.

“The president’s federalization and deployment of the National Guard for reasons not authorized by law and without input from or consent of the governor contravenes core statutory and constitutional restrictions. Use of the regular armed forces is similarly unlawful here,” Newsom says in the complaint filed Monday afternoon, referencing Trump’s more recent order to deploy U.S. Marines into Los Angeles.

Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the suit earlier Monday morning, ahead of the its filing.

Newsom posted Monday morning on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, placing blame on Trump. He and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass oppose deploying the guardsmen.

“This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted,” Newsom posted. “He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard. The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing. We’re suing him.”

According to Bonta, the protests had subsided, and the National Guard wasn’t needed. However, Trump’s move to federalize the guard exacerbated the protests. The California officials say the use of the National Guard “exceeds the scope of their constitutional or statutory authority” and violates the Tenth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act.

Newsom asks for a judge to set aside Trump’s memorandum and prevent the Department of Defense from federalizing and deploying the guard. Newsom also names DOD Secretary Pete Hegseth as a defendant alongside the president.

“The authority to use the military domestically for civil law enforcement is reserved for dire, narrow circumstances, none of which is present here. Defendants have overstepped the bounds of law and are intent on going as far as they can to use the military in unprecedented, unlawful ways,” Newsom says in the suit.

Protests erupted over the weekend in Los Angeles in response to federal immigration enforcement.

Trump on Saturday activated 2,000 National Guard troops. On Sunday, Newsom asked that the state National Guard be removed from the area.

Trump and Newsom have traded barbs over the past few days on social media about the action. Trump posted on his own social media site, saying that Los Angeles had been “invaded and occupied by illegal Aliens and Criminals.”

“Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations — But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve,” Trump posted.

On Sunday, Newsom reposted an interaction he had with a news reporter.

“This is about authoritarian tendencies,” Newsom said. “This about command and control. This is about power. This about ego. This is a consistent pattern. This guy has abandoned the core principles of this great democracy. He’s threatening to go after judges he disagrees with, cut off funding to institutions of higher learning, he’s rewriting history and censoring historical facts.”

The protests against federal immigration enforcement started Friday after dozens of people were arrested. One person arrested was David Jose Huerta, president of Service Employees International Union California. He faces a charge of conspiracy to impede an officer, and was released on bail Monday.

posted Friday on Facebook that Huerta had been released from the hospital, but remained in custody.

“We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice,” Huerta said via a SEUI California statement. “This is injustice.”

Federal authorities said in a Monday release that Huerta had alternatively sat and paced in front of a gate, stopping officers from entering the area. He also directed other protesters, telling them what action to take. When an officer put his hands on Huerta to move him, Huerta pushed back. An officer then pushed Huerta to the ground and he was handcuffed.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement that authorities had struck at least four reporters with non-lethal rounds in the weekend protests.

Two reporters were struck with pepper balls and tear gas Friday and Saturday. A three-inch plastic bullet hit a third reporter’s leg. A rubber bullet hit a fourth reporter’s leg.

“We are greatly concerned by the reports of law enforcement officers’ shooting non-lethal rounds at reporters covering protests in Los Angeles,” said Katherine Jacobsen, U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator with the committee, in a statement. “Any attempt to discourage or silence media coverage by intimidating or injuring journalists should not be tolerated. It is incumbent upon authorities to respect the media’s role of documenting issues of public interest.”