Federal judge rules Trump’s deployment of military in California was illegal

A US federal judge just barred president Trump from deploying military forces in California for law enforcement. This includes actions such as using the National Guard for crowd control, arrests and searches.

The ruling is a major blow to Trump’s mounting militarisation of policing within specifically Democrat-led cities.

DONALD TRUMP LOSES AGAIN.

The courts agree — his militarization of our streets and use of the military against US citizens is ILLEGAL. pic.twitter.com/rDq1Li5fug

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 2, 2025

‘There was no rebellion’

California filed its case early back in June. The state’s suit held that US law clearly prohibits the use of the military in domestic law enforcement. In return, Republican lawyers argued that the troops were merely accompanying federal officers on immigration raids, rather than enforcing laws themselves.

District judge Charles Breyer ruled that Trump’s deployment of thousands of Marines and National Guard in Los Angeles is illegal under the Posse Comitatus Act. This 19th Century law prevents the employment of national troops for domestic law-enforcement purposes.

Breyer wrote in his 52-page verdict that Trump and defence secretary Pete Hegseth deployed troops:

ostensibly to quell a rebellion and ensure that federal immigration law was enforced…

There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence. Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.

According to the ruling, Trump’s administration is blocked from:

deploying, ordering, instructing, training, or using the National Guard currently deployed in California, and any military troops heretofore deployed in California, to execute the laws, including but not limited to engaging in arrests, apprehensions, searches, seizures, security patrols, traffic control, crowd control, riot control, evidence collection, interrogation or acting as informants

‘A national police force’

The judge also stated that:

President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have stated their intention to call National Guard troops into service in other cities across the country… thus creating a national police force with the President as its chief.

The evidence at trial established that Defendants systematically used armed soldiers (whose identity was often obscured by protective armor) and military vehicles to set up protective perimeters and traffic blockades, engage in crowd control, and otherwise demonstrate a military presence in and around Los Angeles.

Notably, judge Breyer’s ruling doesn’t require the remaining troops in California should be called back. However, the decision could serve as a template for other states fighting back against the creation of a ‘national police force’ under the control of the president within their own jurisdictions.

The verdict comes after Trump put Washington’s police force under federal control last month, on 11 August. He also deployed some 800 troops from the National Guard to the city.

The president is reportedly currently considering the deployment of troops for similar domestic law-enforcement actions in other Democrat-led cities, including include San Francisco and Oakland.

Featured image via the Canary