Newsom says he’ll sue to keep Trump from sending California Guard to Portland
Image: ABC7
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California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Sunday that he plans to sue the White House after it ordered 300 California National Guard members to deploy to Portland, Oregon. The move follows a federal judge’s decision on Saturday blocking President Trump’s attempt to federalize and deploy the Oregon National Guard without state approval.
In a statement, Newsom condemned the president’s actions as “a breathtaking abuse of the law and power.”
“The Trump Administration is unapologetically attacking the rule of law itself and putting into action their dangerous words — ignoring court orders and treating judges, even those appointed by the President himself, as political opponents,” Newsom said.
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Spencer Platt/Getty Images – PHOTO: *** BESTPIX *** National Guard To Be Deployed In Portland, Oregon
ABC News reported that it reached out to the White House for clarification on the deployment order.
Judge Blocks Oregon National Guard Federalization
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued a temporary restraining order Saturday, halting the deployment of roughly 200 Oregon National Guard soldiers for at least two weeks. The judge ruled that the administration’s legal justification for federalizing the Guard did not meet the constitutional threshold required to bypass a state governor’s approval.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images – PHOTO: National Guard To Be Deployed In Portland, Oregon
While acknowledging that protests had occurred in Portland, Immergut wrote that they were “not significantly violent or disruptive” enough to justify federal military involvement.
“These incidents are inexcusable, but they are nowhere near the type of incidents that cannot be handled by regular law enforcement,” she wrote.
The Trump administration promptly filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which earlier this year lifted a similar injunction against the deployment of National Guard units to Los Angeles.
Judge Cites Constitutional Overreach
President Trump had previously announced on social media that he would send the National Guard to “war-ravaged Portland” to protect federal and immigration facilities. However, Immergut said the president’s claims were “simply untethered to the facts” and likely exceeded his constitutional authority.
In her ruling, she warned that the administration’s actions “risk blurring the line between civil and military rule,” emphasizing that “this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law.”
Jenny Kane/AP – PHOTO: Federal Crackdown Oregon
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Immergut further noted that while the president is entitled to considerable deference in matters of national defense, “that is not equivalent to ignoring the facts on the ground.” She wrote that the president’s own statements undermined any claim that the deployment order was “conceived in good faith.”
The judge concluded that the order violated the Tenth Amendment by infringing on Oregon’s state sovereignty.
“As soon as the federalized National Guard deploys to Portland, the state of Oregon will suffer an injury to its sovereignty,” she wrote.
Oregon Officials Applaud Ruling
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek praised the ruling, calling it “a victory for the rule of law.”
Attorney General Dan Rayfield, whose office filed the lawsuit challenging the deployment, said the decision should serve as “a wake-up call” to the White House.
“No president is allowed to make up facts or rely on social media posts when deploying the U.S. military in our cities,” Rayfield said. “Today’s ruling stops an attempt to normalize military intervention in domestic affairs.”
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson also welcomed the decision, saying it reaffirmed local authority.
“The number of federal troops that are needed or wanted here is zero,” he said.
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