A federal judge on Thursday ordered Donald Trump to return control of California’s National Guard to Governor Gavin Newsom by Friday afternoon, branding the president’s actions “illegal.”
The temporary restraining order from District Judge Charles R. Breyer takes effect at noon Pacific time on Friday. It delivers a harsh blow to Trump’s efforts to deploy thousands of troops in Los Angeles, in defiance of Newsom’s wishes, to quell protests over his mass deportation agenda.
“At this early stage of the proceedings, the Court must determine whether the President followed the congressionally mandated procedure for his actions,” the judge’s ruling reads. “He did not. His actions were illegal—both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
The Trump administration swiftly filed an appeal and requested that judge’s order be paused. Breyer, whose elder brother Stephen is a retired Supreme Court justice, was appointed by Bill Clinton.
“The district court has entered an unprecedented order enjoining the President from deploying National Guardsmen to protect federal officers from ongoing violent protests and attacks, and to protect federal property from further damage,” Justice Department attorneys wrote, per NBC News.
Newsom—who has been feuding furiously with Trump and on Tuesday likened the president to “failed dictators”—did a victory lap after the ruling.
“This win is not just for California, but the nation,” he wrote on X. “It’s a check on a man whose authoritarian tendencies are increasing by the day.
In a press conference, he said the National Guard would be “redeployed to what they were doing before Donald Trump commandeered them.”
BREAKING: The court just confirmed what we all know — the military belongs on the battlefield, not on our city streets.This win is not just for California, but the nation. It’s a check on a man whose authoritarian tendencies are increasing by the day.End the illegal… pic.twitter.com/0YMqvZSN6u
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 13, 2025
He also doubled down on his “dictator” attack, tearing into Saturday’s multimillion-dollar military parade in Washington—set to coincide with Trump’s birthday. Newsom dismissed it as a “vulgar display” straight from the playbook of “weak” authoritarians like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
It’s the kind of thing you see with Kim Jong Un, you see it with Putin, you see it with dictators around the world that are weak, and just want to demonstrate strength,” he said. “Weakness masquerading as strength.”
Over the weekend, Trump federalized 2,000 National Guard troops to the protests in Los Angeles in a move that Newsom and other local officials said was designed to inflame and escalate a situation that was under control.
Trump defiantly deployed an additional 2,000 troops on Monday, as well as 700 Marines, which are expected to join troops that are already on the streets on Friday. The judge did not rule on Trump’s use of the Marines because they have not yet begun work.
Newsom’s administration had filed an emergency motion on Tuesday to block what it called Trump’s “unlawful militarization of Los Angeles.” The judge declined the request to immediately intervene at the time, giving the Trump administration time to respond.
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