A tale of two Guards: Trump deploys D.C. troops as California trial kicks off
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Demonstrators gather in front of a federal building guarded by a mix of US marines and National Guard personnel on July 4 in Los Angeles. Photo: Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images
A federal judge in California will hear arguments Monday over whether the Trump administration violated federal law with its controversial deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles this summer.
- Meanwhile, on the East Coast, the president announced he is deploying the National Guard and seizing control of D.C.'s police force amid his renewed focus on homelessness and crime in the nation's capital.
The big picture: Both instances are emblematic of Trump's targeting of blue cities and willingness to seize and test the bounds of executive authority. But there are fewer roadblocks for the president to mobilize the capital city's troops.
Context: The D.C. National Guard's soldiers and airmen are under the president's control — not the district mayor's.
- It is the only National Guard unit of all the states and territories that reports solely to the president.
- The D.C. Guard says it has some 2,700 personnel available, while the city's Metropolitan Police Department includes more than 3,000 sworn members.
The latest: Trump's memorandum, according to the White House, directs Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to mobilize the D.C. National Guard "until law and order is restored."
- It also directs Hegseth to coordinate with state governors "and authorize the orders of any additional National Guard units as needed."
Zoom in: In other states, like California, the governor serves as the commander-in-chief of their National Guard.
- That's what made Trump's federalization of the California National Guard amid the Los Angeles-area immigration protests so contentious: He did so over Golden State Gov. Gavin Newsom's objections.
Catch up quick: The Trump administration mobilized more than 4,000 Guard troops and roughly 700 Marines to the LA area in June before ending the deployment of most of the troops in July.
- Newsom sued Trump, Hegseth and the Defense Department in June, arguing the deployment "for reasons not authorized by law and without input from or consent of the Governor contravenes core statutory and constitutional restrictions."
- The lawsuit argues that the administration violated a nearly 150-year-old federal law, the Posse Comitatus Act, that bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement except when authorized by law.
- While thousands of soldiers have been withdrawn, Newsom's office said late last month that around 300 guardsmembers would continue to be stationed at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos "without a clear mission, direction" or timeline.
Between the lines: As noted by the Brennan Center for Justice, the Justice Department has asserted that the D.C. Guard can operate in a non-federal, "militia," status and would therefore not be covered by the Posse Comitatus Act.
- Georgetown University Law Center professor Steve Vladeck writes that while this is a "troubling loophole," it is "also a relatively a modest one" given the D.C. Guard's small size.
- "Although the President using D.C. National Guard troops for law enforcement purposes in a context in which there is no plausible claim of emergency is troubling in any number of respects, it doesn't come close to displacing the D.C. local government or more broadly 'federalizing' D.C.," he emphasized.
Flashback: For D.C. residents, the current moment may harken back to 2020, when Trump mobilized the DC National Guard to quell protests amid the country's national reckoning over racism and police brutality.
- Thousands of Guard personnel from 11 states and several other federal authorities ended up patrolling the District.
What we're watching: Trump vowed in a Monday Truth Social post, shared around two hours before his 10 a.m. news conference on D.C., that the nation's capital would be "LIBERATED today."
- His words echo his rhetoric from June, when he claimed to a crowd of soldiers that his administration would "liberate Los Angeles."
- That promised "liberation" comes to a city where crime is trending down — and to streets that are already being patrolled by FBI agents amid ramped-up federal law enforcement.
Go deeper: Trump ups rhetoric on D.C. crime and homelessness amid federal crackdown
