A federal judge on Tuesday rejected California Governor Gavin Newsom’s urgent legal request to block President Donald Trump’s deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops to riot-affected areas in Los Angeles.
The ruling marks a significant early win for the Trump administration amid intensifying legal and political clashes over federal intervention in California’s handling of civil unrest.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, a Clinton appointee, denied Newsom’s emergency Ex Parte Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). The motion was filed late Tuesday morning in response to Trump’s controversial June 10 directive to send thousands of Guardsmen to restore order in Los Angeles following days of violent protests and riots.
Judge Breyer’s order grants the federal government additional time to formally respond, setting a deadline of Wednesday morning for a brief from Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and the Department of Defense.
Newsom’s legal team has until Thursday morning to file a counter-response. A full hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 12.
Newsom’s lawsuit argues that the president’s unilateral decision to deploy the National Guard without the state’s request violates constitutional principles of federalism and civil governance. The complaint, as filed, asserts that the United States was founded on “civil, not military, rule,” and that the president’s order undermines that framework.
“Only under the most exigent of circumstances can the President, over the objections of a State, call the National Guard into federal service,” the lawsuit reads.
The governor’s legal team contends that no such extraordinary conditions exist in Los Angeles to justify bypassing state authority, despite escalating violence, attacks on police, the destruction of property—including the torching of Waymo autonomous vehicles—and anti-ICE graffiti on federal buildings.
In advance of the court filing, Newsom posted a public letter from California Legal Affairs Secretary David Sapp to Defense Secretary Hegseth, denouncing the deployment. “There is no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles,” the letter stated. “Accordingly, we ask that you immediately rescind your order and return the National Guard to its rightful control by the State of California.”
