What to Know
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked a court last week to put an emergency stop to the military helping federal immigration agents in Los Angeles.
- California requested to limit the scope of duties for the National Guard and Marines who were activated by the federal government.
- Late last week, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said that the Guard deployment was illegal and exceeded Trump’s statutory authority.
- The matter was placed on hold, allowing troops to remain in LA, and now heads to a federal appeals court panel of judges in San Francisco.
- The National Guard is typically activated by the governor at the request of local authorities.
President Trump has activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines over the objections of city and state leaders. - Local law enforcement agencies, like the LAPD, have responded to protests and violence, which has been concentrated to pockets of downtown Los Angeles.
A three-judge panel will hear argument Tuesday over whether the Trump administration should return command of National Guard troops to California after thousands of them were activated in Los Angeles.
The federal appeals court judges will convene in San Francisco in what has become ane extended legal battle between California and the White House, which federalized the National Guard in an unusual move after protests over immigration enforcement operations that are part of President Trump’s mass deportation plan. Guard troops arrived early June 8 and were positioned outside federal properties, like the federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles.
The area in and around the complex of federal buildings became a flashpoint for protests over the ICE raids.
The hearing comes after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request by the Trump administration last week to temporarily pause a lower court order that directed President Trump to return control of the National Guard to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who earlier filed a lawsuit over the deployment. National Guard troops are usually activated by a state governor at the request of local officials.
Judges are set to hear oral arguments via video starting at noon Tuesday. Protests are expected outside the downtown San Francisco court.
It was not immediately clear how long the hearing will last and when a decision might be announced.
The military troops activated in Los Angeles will continue to stay in the city after a federal appeals court paused a previous order from a judge that gave control back to California. Karma Dickerson reports for the NBC4 News on June 12, 2025.
Late last week, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco ruled that the Guard deployment was illegal and exceeded Trump’s statutory authority. It applied only to the National Guard troops and not the Marines, who were also deployed to LA at federal buildings.
The Trump administration argued the deployment was necessary to restore order and protect federal buildings and officers.
In his lawsuit, Gov. Gavin Newsom accused the president of escalating tensions, breaching state sovereignty and wasting resources. The governor called the federal government’s decision to take command of the state’s National Guard “illegal and immoral.”
Newsom filed the suit following days of unrest as demonstrators protested against federal immigration raids. After a clash between protesters and federal agents June 7 in the southern Los Angeles County community of Paramount, most of the demonstrations in the city of nearly 4 million people that encompasses about 500 square miles were concentrated in part of downtown Los Angeles.
After reports of looting and vandalism June 9, Los Angeles declared a limited curfew for 1 square mile of the downtown area. Arrests decreased each night, and no arrests were reported Sunday, leading to a reduction in curfew hours this week.
Breyer’s decision claimed President Trump violated the use of Title 10, which allows the president to call the National Guard into federal service when the country “is invaded,” when “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government,” or when the president is unable “to execute the laws of the United States.”
Breyer, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, said in his ruling that what has been happening in Los Angeles does not meet the definition of a rebellion. Most of the arrests over several days of protest were for unlawful assembly and curfew violations, but arrests have been reported for crimes list assault on a police officer, vandalism, looting, arson and other offenses.
The LAPD has reported clashes in which rocks, bottles, commercial-grade fireworks and other objects were thrown at officers. Two men were arrest and charged last wee in connection with attacks involving Molotov cocktails during protests in Los Angeles and Paramount.
Local law enforcement agencies, like the LAPD, have responded to protests and violence in the pocket of downtown LA near several federal buildings.
“The protests in Los Angeles fall far short of ‘rebellion,'” Breyer wrote. “Individuals’ right to protest the government is one of the fundamental rights protected by the First Amendment, and just because some stray bad actors go too far does not wipe out that right for everyone.”
The National Guard hasn’t been activated without a governor’s permission since 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Demonstrations have picked up across the U.S., with protests popping up in more than a dozen major cities. The Trump administration has said it is willing to send troops to other cities to assist with immigration enforcement and controlling disturbances — in line with what Trump promised during last year’s campaign.