September 2, 2025
President Trump keeps talking about sending the national guard to Chicago and to other cities around the country. But remember when he sent those national guard troops to Los Angeles a few months ago because of the protests over his immigration crackdown? Yeah – well – today a federal judge ruled that not only Trump but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth broke federal law when they did that.
In this 52-page ruling issued this morning — Judge Breyer outlined all the ways Trump, Hegseth and the entire Department of Defense violated the Posse Comitatus Act. Based on the evidence presented at the trial the judge wrote Trump is trying to claim he needed the military on the ground to enforce his immigration law and “quell” an alleged rebellion in Los Angeles. But Judge Breyer did not buy it. He wrote, “there were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence. Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.” The judge went on to say Trump’s true motive is clear — to create a “national police force with the president as chief.” And that’s just not how we do things in the United States.
We’ve talked about the Posse Comitatus Act on my page before, but just in case you missed it – that federal law was passed in 1878. And it’s very clear. It says the federal government is prohibited from using military personnel to enforce domestic policies – like police work. The law says the only military that is allowed to act in a law enforcement capacity is the national guard – but only after it is invited to do so by that state’s governor. Obviously – California Governor Gavin Newsom did not invite the military to California – in fact he didn’t want them there — but Trump sent them anyway.
Here’s a juicy tidbit buried in the judge’s ruling — based on the evidence at trial – the judge found that the military members and their leadership all knew about the Posse Comitatus Act and knew they were not supposed to be performing any kind of law enforcement functions on the ground in California. Heck there was even a hand out given to the military trainers who briefed the thousands of guardsmen and 700 active duty Marines the president and Secretary of Defense called up to California. But according to the evidence – the judge wrote that the military was told the four functions listed in red were actually fair game and the military could engage in security patrols, traffic control, crowd control and riot control. The judge wrote “this instruction came “all the way from the top of [the department of defense] down to task force 51.” The judge said this was “these actions demonstrate that defendants knew that they were ordering troops to execute domestic law beyond their usual authority. Whether they believed that some constitutional or other exception applied does not matter; “ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
At this point the reality is there are only 300 national guard troops left on the ground in California. Judge Breyer said those troops can stay however they must comply with the Posse Comitatus Act that means they cannot be involved any type of law enforcement activity. This ruling will take effect on September 12 to give the trump administration 10 days to appeal.
To be clear – this order only applies to California – though other state attorneys general may rely on this ruling when they inevitably file their own lawsuits to challenge trump’s expected national guard mobilization in their states.
Read the ruling here.
