(The Center Square) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta threatened to sue the Trump administration if President Donald Trump deploys National Guard troops to San Francisco.
Newsom said any National Guard deployment to San Francisco, which Trump has said in recent days he would do, would be met with an immediate lawsuit.
“We’re a nation of laws and accountability — not a nation that turns a blind eye to abuse of power,” Newsom said in a news release Tuesday. “The notion that the federal government can deploy troops into our cities with no justification grounded in reality, no oversight, no accountability, no respect for state sovereignty — it’s a direct assault on the rule of law.”
Bonta added that the deployment of National Guard troops wouldn’t be in response to a protest, a riot or social unrest, but rather what Bonta characterized as Trump’s effort to use the National Guard as his own personal army.
“This is outrageous, indefensible – and most importantly illegal,” Bonta said in the same press release. “San Francisco may be the President’s latest target, but California is no stranger to the President’s political games and unconstitutional tactics. We’re ready to go to court immediately if the President follows through on this latest illegal plan.”
Trump previously invoked a little-used federal law in June to federalize part of California’s National Guard, using 4,000 members of the state’s National Guard in a civilian law enforcement role in Los Angeles and other communities in Southern California following immigration-related protests and riots.
The announcement comes just two days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued a ruling lifting a temporary restraining order keeping National Guard troops out of the city of Portland, Ore. The 9th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over the entire West Coast, has courthouses in San Francisco, Seattle, Portland and Pasadena.
“President Trump’s September 28 deployment falls within the history and tradition of the early Militia Acts,” read the ruling. “Individuals within a group of about 200 people have engaged in violent activity in opposition to a single set of laws that carry out federal immigration enforcement.”
The ruling, which was reported on previously by The Center Square, went on to state that protesters have assaulted federal officers in the city of Portland instead of voting for their desired changes.
San Francisco and Los Angeles members of the California Senate and Assembly were unavailable to talk to The Center Square Wednesday afternoon. Similarly, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the National Guard and experts at the Project on Government Oversight were unavailable for comment.
