White House scores temporary win in clash with Gavin Newsom over Guard use

In a win for the White House, a federal appeals court on Thursday ruled President Donald Trump can continue using California National Guard troops to respond to protests in Los Angeles while a legal challenge plays out, Bloomberg reported.

The unanimous three-judge panel in San Francisco – made up of two Trump-appointed judges and one Biden appointee – said Trump likely acted lawfully when he federalized the National Guard on June 7, and rejected arguments that the courts have no power to review his decision.

“We conclude that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority,” the judges wrote in their ruling late Thursday. However, as Bloomberg noted, the court’s order was limited to Trump’s authority to deploy troops – not “the nature of the activities in which the federalized National Guard may engage.”

The ruling temporarily lifts an earlier order by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who last week blocked the deployment after dismissing the idea that the protest alone amounted to a rebellion.

Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney told his X followers Thursday night that he found it “notable” the court said “Trump had a ‘colorable’ basis to call up the Guard, one people could disagree with but not enough to find it absurd or obviously meritless.”

He added: “But they rejected his admin’s claim that courts had no role reviewing it.”

California could appeal the decision to the full appeals court or the Supreme Court, Bloomberg reported. A follow-up hearing is set in the lower court for Friday.