Topline
National Guard troops can no longer be deployed in Los Angeles while the case over their presence in the city is pending, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the Trump administration was keeping troops in the city “despite no evidence” that they are necessary and marking the latest legal blow to Trump’s military deployment in major U.S. cities.
National Guardsmen on June 9 in Downtown Los Angeles, California.
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Key Facts
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer blocked the Trump administration from deploying troops in Los Angeles while litigation is pending and ordered the federal government to return control of California’s National Guard to the state’s Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Approximately 300 National Guard troops are still in the city, months after President Donald Trump first deployed the military in California, with Breyer ruling that the troops were staying in the city “despite no evidence that execution of federal law is impeded in any way—let alone significantly.”
The Trump administration initially federalized the National Guard and sent troops to California in June, and has claimed in court that it can keep extending its orders keeping troops in the city indefinitely without courts being able to challenge it.
Breyer disagreed and called the Trump administration’s reasoning “shocking,” writing that adopting that line of thinking “would permit a president to create a perpetual police force comprised of state troops” and would “validate the Founders’ ‘widespread fear [of] a national standing Army.’”
Los Angeles is one of several Democratic-leaning cities where Trump has deployed troops—and legal battles are now playing out as a result—along with Portland, Oregon, and Chicago.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson maintained in a statement that Trump has “lawful authority” to send troops to Los Angeles, while California Attorney General Rob Bonta celebrated the ruling, saying in a statement it was “a good day for our democracy and the strength of the rule of law.”
Crucial Quote
“The Founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances,” Breyer wrote in his opinion Wednesday. “Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one.”
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/12/10/trump-cant-deploy-national-guard-in-los-angeles-judge-rules/
