MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
National Guard troops in California remain under President Trump's command for now. A judge ruled the president violated the law when he ordered the deployment of the California Guard without the approval of Governor Gavin Newsom. The judge said power must return to the state, but an appeals court quickly put the ruling on hold. In a few minutes, we'll hear from NPR's Domenico Montanaro about the political reaction to Trump's immigration policies and the protests against them, but we're going to start with the details of the National Guard ruling.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
CapRadio's Laura Fitzgerald is covering this story from California. Good morning.
LAURA FITZGERALD, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK, so what happened here?
FITZGERALD: Well, the central question here is, who is in charge of 4,000 National Guard troops that have been in LA for almost a week? Normally, governors control their state National Guards, but in this case, Trump federalized them against Governor Gavin Newsom's wishes. This happened a day after protests broke out in pockets of Downtown LA in response to a series of ICE raids. City and state officials have insisted they didn't need the National Guard there. They said they already had enough resources - local law enforcement - to maintain order. And Newsom said Trump calling in the National Guard would only make tensions worse, and so Newsom sued the Trump administration.
INSKEEP: And this is essentially a constitutional argument. Why did the judge side with Newsom?
FITZGERALD: Well, yesterday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco - he's a Clinton appointee - he gave a 36-page ruling that said Trump's actions were illegal. And it wasn't surprising, given the comments that he made during the hearing yesterday. He said that this country was founded in response to a monarchy, and he said that it would be a monarchy if the president didn't have to justify this action. He said the Trump administration didn't meet the threshold for federalizing the National Guard.
And part of the statute Trump used to justify deploying the guard requires a rebellion or danger of rebellion against the government. And the judge really took issue with this in his order yesterday, saying that the protests in Los Angeles were far from what would be considered a rebellion. And in the end, the judge ordered that the National Guard troops be returned to Newsom's control by noon today. And immediately after the ruling, Newsom claimed it a victory.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GAVIN NEWSOM: I hope it's the beginning of a new day in this country where we push back against overreach, we push back against these authoritarian tendencies of a president that has pushed the boundaries, pushed the limit, but no longer can push this state around.
FITZGERALD: But that victory was short-lived.
INSKEEP: Why?
FITZGERALD: Well, the Trump administration appealed Judge Breyer's order within minutes, and a few hours later, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay blocking that initial ruling. So that means the National Guard will stay in LA under Trump's authority. A White House spokesperson said in a statement to the Associated Press that Judge Breyer, quote, "has no authority to usurp the president's authority as commander in chief."
INSKEEP: So what happens now?
FITZGERALD: So the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hold a hearing on the issue on June 17. That's next Tuesday. But there's still this question of the 700 Marines that Trump deployed to assist in LA. They've been getting civil disobedience training at a naval facility in Orange Beach. And Newsom's lawyers during the hearing yesterday - they wanted Judge Breyer to address the Marines' involvement. But the judge said he wouldn't rule on that because the Marines, as far as we know, aren't in LA yet. When they are there, there's still an open question about what exactly they'll be doing on the ground.
INSKEEP: That's reporter Laura Fitzgerald. Thanks so much.
FITZGERALD: Thank you, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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