Trump Broke Law When Deploying LA Guard, Marines: Judge

Federal takeovers may have just become a lot harder for Trump to pull off.

Score one for the Constitution.

A federal judge has put a temporary halt to President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, finding the president violated a bedrock American law known as the Posse Comitatus Act.

Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer issued the preliminary injunction Tuesday after a three-day bench trial. An appeal from the Justice Department is likely forthcoming.

The ruling was clear right from the start. “Congress spoke clearly in 1878 when it passed the Posse Comitatus Act, prohibiting the use of the U.S. military to execute domestic law,” Breyer wrote, before detailing the actions of the Trump administration in sending troops to LA to ostensibly quash a rebellion, in the form of protests over immigration raids.

“There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence,” Breyer acknowledged. “Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law.”