US judge orders Trump to return control of National Guard to California

LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order late Thursday, directing US President Donald Trump to return control of the National Guard to California.

Trump's deployment of the California National Guard and US Marines in Los Angeles was illegal, both violating the Tenth Amendment and exceeding Trump's statutory authority, said the order, which takes effect at noon on Friday.

US District Judge Charles Breyer said Trump overstepped his bounds in ordering the deployment of roughly 4,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles after protests erupted over the immigration crackdown.

California Governor Gavin Newsom sued to block the National Guard's deployment against his wishes. California later filed an emergency motion asking the judge to block the Guard from assisting with immigration raids.

The restraining order from Breyer delivered "a sharp rebuke to President Trump's effort to deploy thousands of National Guard troops on the streets of an American city, a move that has contributed to nearly a week of political rancor and protests across the country," reported The New York Times.

During the hourlong hearing before Breyer in San Francisco, a lawyer for the Justice Department argued that courts lack the authority to second-guess the president's decisions concerning the National Guard troops and Marines that Trump has deployed despite objections from state and local officials.

Breyer expressed doubt that Trump had complied with the terms of a statute that specifies when National Guard units, which normally are commanded by the state's governor, can be federalized. But he also said he was reluctant to grant Newsom's request for an order forbidding the use of military personnel to enforce federal laws without strong evidence that troops actually were doing so.

The judge stayed his order until noon on Friday to allow for appeals, but scheduled a hearing for June 20 to determine whether to make the restrictions permanent. The Trump administration has filed for appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit after the ruling.