Appeals Court Rules 2-1 That Trump's 2025 Takeover of the California National Guard Was Unlawful

A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled Friday, Oct. 23, that President Donald Trump unlawfully federalized about 4,000 California National Guard troops and deployed them to Los Angeles during protests against immigration enforcement in June 2025, according to the Los Angeles Times and City News Service via ABC7.

The 2-1 decision split the president's own appointees. Judge Eric D. Miller, a Trump appointee, joined Judge Jennifer Sung, a Biden appointee, in the majority, while Trump appointee Judge Mark J. Bennett dissented, the Times reported.

What the Court Found on the National Guard Order

"The order exceeded the President's statutory authority and encroached on Congress's calling forth power, in violation of the constitutional separation of powers," Sung wrote for the majority, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The court held that the administration's claim that Los Angeles faced a rebellion in June 2025 "did not reflect a colorable assessment within a range of honest judgment," the Times reported. The majority found the government had not shown evidence of "a violent, armed, organized, open and avowed uprising against the government as a whole."

"Resistance that is not violent, armed, organized, and against the government as a whole generally does not require a military response," Sung wrote. In another passage quoted by City News Service, she wrote that the government had not made "either of the required threshold showings here."

The same three judges had allowed the deployment to go forward in June 2025, staying a ruling by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer, according to the Times. The new decision follows the Supreme Court's Dec. 23 ruling on the federalization of the Illinois National Guard, which narrowed when a president may take command of Guard troops under the statute. Federalized troops were ordered to leave Los Angeles in December, the Times reported.

The Dissent and the Administration's Position

Bennett wrote in his dissent that the panel should not have ruled at all because the Trump administration had sought to drop its appeal of a lower-court injunction, City News Service reported.

The administration has argued that violent demonstrations in downtown Los Angeles and elsewhere justified the president taking control of the Guard from Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to City News Service. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from that outlet after business hours.

California Officials React

"Yet another court has issued a complete rejection of Donald Trump's illegal, authoritarian takeover of our state's National Guard," Newsom said in a statement released by his office.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who brought the lawsuit on behalf of the governor and the state, said, "Deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles with no rhyme or reason was a clear example of federal overreach." The Times reported the decision also appeared to foreclose what Bonta called the administration's attempt to preserve its ability to call up California troops again under the same statute.

Image: California National Guard soldiers in Los Angeles in June 2025 (file photo), U.S. Northern Command, public domain.

Yossi Schmidt, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Digital Free Press

Hold Everyone Accountable.

Sources: Los Angeles Times, "9th Circuit blocks path for Trump to again deploy National Guard without state approval" (Oct. 23, 2026): https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-10-23/9th-circuit-trump-california-national-guard-deployment-ruling ; City News Service via ABC7 Los Angeles, "Appeals court rules Trump's National Guard deployment to Los Angeles was unlawful" (updated Oct. 24, 2026): https://abc7.com/post/appeals-court-rules-donald-trumps-ca-national-guard-deployment-los-angeles-was-unlawful/19976628/ ; Office of the Governor of California, statement (Oct. 23, 2026): https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/10/23/governor-newsom-on-courts-final-decision-holding-president-trump-accountable-for-illegal-federalization-of-the-california-national-guard/