Judge Charles Breyer, a senior judge on the federal bench for the Northern District of California, ruled Monday that President Donald Trump exceeded his powers in deploying the military to Los Angeles.
Specifially, Breyer — a Bill Clinton appointee who is also the younger brother of retired Supreme Court Stephen Breyer — ruled that Trump had violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prevents federal troops from being used in state or local law enforcement. (The law was passed with the support of white supremacist Democrats to push back federal troops that had enforced Reconstruction in the South.)
Trump had called in both the National Guard and the U.S. Marines to protect federal property and federal law enforcement officials, including Immigation and Customs Enforcement officers, from riotous mobs.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) — who sued Trump, filling in the segregationist role — was exultant, claiming victory in a press statement:
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 [sic]. 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.
Newsom has repeatedly claimed that crime is higher in “red” states, ignoring the fact that crime in those states is concentrated in Democrat-dominated “blue” cities.
In the past, Newsom has previously celebrated wins in court at the lower levels, only to lose on appeal or at the Supreme Court. Most recently, the Ninth Circuit unanimously found, contrary to Newsom, that Trump had the power to federalize the California National Guard. (The appellate court overruled Judge Breyer, who also presided in that case.)
Tuesday’s ruling only applies to California, and the judge implied that the president could still use the Insurrection Act to call in federal troops.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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