California’s top officials announced Monday that they are suing President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth for what they called the “unlawful” federalization of the National Guard.
Attorney General Rob Bonta and Governor Gavin Newsom filed the lawsuit after Trump, under federal law, deployed roughly 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles after the riots sparked by recent ICE operations intensified.
In a press release detailing the lawsuit against Trump, Bonta said, “Let me be clear: There is no invasion. There is no rebellion. The President is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends. Federalizing the California National Guard is an abuse of the President’s authority under the law – and not one we take lightly. We’re asking a court to put a stop to the unlawful, unprecedented order.”
However, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told Fox News that rioters were “not protesting” and denounced Newsom’s actions as governor, especially for failing to protect California residents.
For over a week now, law enforcement agencies around California have struggled to contain the violent riots scattered around the state following high-profile ICE operations that drew large, often unruly crowds, as previously reported by DX. Trump’s deployment of the National Guard was intended to support local police departments that have faced road closures, traffic disruption, and, as seen online, many physical attacks from the rioters themselves.
“In light of these incidents and credible threats of continued violence, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard under 10 U.S.C. 12406 to temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel,” Trump said in a memorandum published on June 7.
However, Newsom and Bonta claim Trump’s move amounts to an “authoritarian power grab” that violates the Tenth Amendment – ignoring the federal government’s constitutional duty to preserve order and enforce the law when states cannot or will not do so themselves.
“Every governor, red or blue, should reject this outrageous overreach. This is beyond incompetence — this is him intentionally causing chaos, terrorizing communities, and endangering the principles of our great democracy. It is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism,” Newsome said in the release.
The statute allowing Trump to deploy the National Guard, rarely invoked in modern history, specifically allows the President to mobilize state National Guard units in cases of “invasion, rebellion, or insurrection.” While Newsom insists there is no such crisis in California, the surge of violent riots, assaults, and property damage in recent weeks looks a lot like an insurrection.
The lawsuit now heads to federal court, where the fate of California’s National Guard and potentially the safety of its residents hang in the balance.