A US appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump can keep control of National Guard troops he deployed to Los Angeles, despite objections from city leaders and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Trump deployed the troops in response to widespread protests against his immigration crackdown. Local officials called it an unnecessary provocation.
A three-judge panel on Thursday said he was within his rights to order the troops into service to “protect federal personnel… [and] property”. Trump called it a “big win”.
The decision halts a ruling from a lower court judge who found Trump acted illegally when mobilising the troops.
In that earlier ruling, Judge Charles Breyer said Trump “did not” follow the law set by Congress on the deployment of a state’s National Guard.
“His actions were illegal… He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith,” he wrote in his decision.
The judge however stayed the order until 13 June to give the Trump administration time to appeal against it, which it did almost immediately after.
Thursday’s unanimous ruling said Trump’s “failure to issue the federalisation order directly ‘through’ the Governor of California does not limit his otherwise lawful authority to call up the National Guard”.
“This is much bigger than Gavin [Newsom], because all over the United States, if our Cities, and our people, need protection, we are the ones to give it to them should State and Local Police be unable, for whatever reason, to get the job done,” Trump wrote on social media after the decision.
He also congratulated the court, adding: “America is proud of you tonight!”
The 38-page ruling, however, said the judges disagreed with the president on the merits of the legal challenge against his use of the National Guard. It said his decision to use the troops was not “completely insulated from judicial review”.
