Gavin Newsom Celebrates Favorable Ruling Against Trump: ‘Much Needed Accountability’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom celebrated a favorable ruling regarding the use of National Guard troops by the Trump administration during immigration enforcement operations in the state in June.

In a social media post, Newsom’s press office quoted a passage of the ruling noting that “because there is an ongoing risk that Defendants [Trump] will act unlawfully and thereby injure Plaintiffs [California], the Court ENJOINS Defendants from violating the Posse Comitatus Act.”

“The people of California won much needed accountability against Trump’s ILLEGAL militarization of an American city!” the post adds.

Federal judge Charles Breyer ruled that the administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act, the 19th-century law preventing the deployment of military troops as a domestic police force without the approval from Congress. Overall, the Department of Defense deployed some 4,000 members of the National Guard and 700 Marines to Los Angeles during immigration enforcement operations in the state.

“There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence,” the judge wrote, in reference to the June protests. However, he rejected there was indeed a rebellion, adding that civilian law was not unable “to respond to the protests and enforce the law.” “In short, Defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act,” Breyer added.

NBC News recalled that California asked judge Breyer to order the Trump administration to return control of troops to Newsom and refrain from using the military “to execute or assist in the execution of federal law.”

The Department of Justice, in turn, claimed the deployment was necessary to protect federal property and personnel, and that troops operated within the confines of the Posse Comitatus Act.

However, judge Breyer noted that the intention would actually be “creating a national police force with the President as its chief.”