Judge rules that deploying troops to L.A. is illegal

California wins round, but appeal could hand Trump near-unlimited power, experts warn.

- BY SONJA SHARP

GINA FERAZZI Los Angeles Times A DEMONSTRATOR walks in front of California National Guard members in downtown L.A. in June.

A federal judge in San Francisco barred soldiers from aiding immigration arrests and other civilian law enforcement across California, warning Tuesday of a growing "national police force with the President as its chief" in an impassioned order set to take effect Sept. 12.

The decision is a major win for California and could have wide-ranging consequences for President Trump's use of the military nationwide. But legal experts warn it could prove a Pyrrhic victory, won at such great cost it is tantamount to defeat. Many fear a reversal on appeal could hand the president near-unlimited power to deploy troops on American soil.

"The stakes are huge," said Eric J. Segall, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law. "If this District Court decision is reversed by either the 9th Circuit or the Supreme Court or both ... the Trump administration would go hog wild."

In a 52-page decision filed early Tuesday morning, Senior District Judge Charles R. Breyer blocked the administration from "deploying, ordering, instructing, training, or using" California troops to engage in civilian law enforcement, as Trump has done throughout Southern California during sweeping immigration raids since June.

"Why is the National Guard still around?" Breyer demanded with evident irritation at trial last month.

"What is the threat today? What was the threat yesterday or two weeks ago that allowed it?" the judge said at the time. "I'm trying to see whether there are any limits, any limits to the use of a federal force."