A federal appeals court ruled Friday that President Trump acted unlawfully when he took control of California National Guard troops during the June 2025 Los Angeles protests. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals split 2-1, according to a report on the decision 1.
The panel upheld a lower-court order against Trump's federalization of the troops. Federalization means the president takes command of a state's Guard from its governor. The majority found that Trump exceeded his statutory authority and violated the separation of powers 1. Trump had ordered about 4,000 California Guard members into federal service 1.
What the judges said
Judge Jennifer Sung, appointed by President Biden, and Judge Eric Miller, appointed by Trump, formed the majority. Judge Mark Bennett, also a Trump appointee, dissented 1.
Federal law lets a president federalize the Guard in two main situations. One is when he cannot enforce federal laws with the "regular forces," which the majority read to mean the regular military. The other is a rebellion or danger of one 1.
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On the first, the majority said the administration did not show it met the legal standard. On the second, it acknowledged the violence but found that scattered attacks and property damage during immigration-enforcement protests were not an organized uprising against federal authority 1. It relied on the Supreme Court's December 2025 ruling in the Illinois National Guard case 1.
The Justice Department had asked to drop the appeal before the decision. The panel refused, noting the case was fully briefed and argued. It worried that parties could otherwise avoid an unfavorable precedent by abandoning appeals 1. Bennett dissented, arguing the court should have let the department withdraw rather than issue a published opinion on constitutional questions 1.
Trump is breaking the law by trying to create a national police force with himself as its chief.
The record so far
California sued on June 9, 2025. The 9th Circuit first sided with Trump in June 2025, calling its review of his decision "highly deferential" 3. On Sept. 2, 2025, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled after a trial that the deployment broke federal law 23.
Breyer found there was "no rebellion" in Los Angeles. In that ruling, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said Trump was trying to create a national police force with himself as its chief 2.
Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.
Trump ended the Los Angeles deployment on Dec. 31, 2025 3. The new ruling therefore does not return any troops. The report says it covers preliminary relief rather than a final judgment after a trial, but it is binding precedent in the 9th Circuit 1.
What happens next
The report names no further filings or deadlines, and I found no response from the White House or Justice Department. The administration could ask the full 9th Circuit or the Supreme Court to review the decision. The case also still has to go forward in the lower court 1.
That matters because the ruling puts in writing limits on a president's power to send troops into American cities over a governor's objection. The pattern is a series of court losses on this question, and the administration's own request to drop the appeal did not stop this one from becoming precedent. Note that the main account of Friday's decision comes from a conservative outlet, and the full opinion should be read for its exact wording 1.
The Record
- California sued over Trump's federalization of its National Guard for Los Angeles 3.
- Judge Charles Breyer ruled after a trial that the deployment violated federal law 23.
- Trump ended the Guard deployment in Los Angeles 3.
- A divided 9th Circuit panel affirmed the order against the federalization, 2-1 1.
Sources
- RedState, “9th Circuit Deals Trump Major National Guard Defeat — After Refusing to Let DOJ Drop Appeal” (2026-10-23). redstate.com/smoosieq/2026/10/23/9th-circuit-deals-trump-maj
- CalMatters, “Judge rules Trump broke the law by sending National Guard to LA” (2025-09-02). calmatters.org/justice/2025/09/trump-national-guard-posse-co
- Wikipedia, “Newsom v. Trump” (2026-10-23). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsom_v._Trump
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