Governor Newsom secures federal court victory, Trump’s use of National Guard in Los Angeles illegal

What you need to know: A court ruled that Trump is breaking the law - again.

Sacramento, California - In a major rebuke of Donald Trump, a federal court has granted California's injunction blocking Trump's illegal use of the U.S. military as a domestic police force. The ruling makes clear: Trump is breaking the law by trying to create a national police force with himself as its chief.

"Today, the court sided with democracy and the Constitution. No president is a king - not even Trump - and no president can trample a state's power to protect its people. As the court today ruled, Trump is breaking the law by 'creating a national police force with the President as its chief.' That's exactly what we've been warning about for months. There is no rampant lawlessness in California, and in fact, crime rates are higher in Republican-led states. Trump's attempt to use federal troops as his personal police force is illegal, authoritarian, and must be stopped in every courtroom across this country."

Governor Gavin Newsom

The Court's findings

"The Court ORDERS that Defendants [TRUMP ADMIN] are enjoined 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."

Read the entire ruling here.

How we got here

On June 10, 2025, following President Trump's doubling down on the militarization of the Los Angeles area through the takeover of 4,000 California National Guard soldiers and the unlawful deployment of the U.S. Marines, Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta filedan emergency request for the court to block President Trump and the Department of Defense from expanding the current mission of federalized Cal Guard personnel and Marines. This mission orders soldiers to engage in unlawful civilian law enforcement activities in communities across the region, beyond just guarding federal buildings.

The Impacts: Police off the streets, teachers out of classrooms

Of the over 4,000 California National Guard members sent to Los Angeles under Trump's order, the California National Guard estimates that their servicemembers had been pulled from essential civilian dutiessuch as medical and first responders, service workers, building trades contractors, law enforcement personnel, corrections officers, civil service and government workers, technology specialists, educators and teachers, and agriculture workers.

Typically, under the Governor's command, nearly 450 servicemembers are deployed statewide, including at ports of entry, to combat transnational criminal organizations and seize illegal narcotics. CalGuard's servicemembersdedicated to the state's Counterdrug Task Force had been reassigned by President Trump to militarize Los Angeles. The consequences were dire as CalGuard's helps ensure the public safety of communities statewide.

High-ranking U.S. military officials agreed

Retired four-star admirals and generalsand former secretaries of the Army and Navy filed another amicus brief outlining the grave risks of Trump's illegal takeover of the CalGuard. Several veterans and veteran rights' groupscame together to decry Trump's militarization of California.