A US appeals court has allowed Donald Trump to retain control of the California National Guard, US media reported on Friday.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco extended the suspension of Federal Judge Charles Breyer’s June 12 ruling that Trump had illegally transferred the Guard to federal command.
Amid protests and riots in Los Angeles sparked by the Trump administration’s immigration raids, the president took control of the California National Guard on June 7 and sent 4,000 troops against the wishes of Governor Gavin Newsom. He also ordered 700 marines to be sent to the city.
The protests in Los Angeles continued for more than a week but then subsided, prompting Mayor Karen Bass to lift the curfew that had been imposed earlier. On June 9, the state of California and Governor Newsom filed a lawsuit against Trump, the Pentagon and Defence Secretary Pete Pompeo.
The lawsuit claimed that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines violated state sovereignty and federal laws prohibiting the military from participating in law enforcement activities. According to the lawsuit, the protests were accompanied by sporadic acts of violence that local law enforcement agencies could handle without military involvement.
Trump called his decision correct and told reporters that the city would have “burned to the ground” without the deployment of troops. He accused California and Los Angeles officials of failing to adequately address violence during the protests and suggested that the governor be arrested.
