The court battle and press conference scuffle underscored the political polarisation generated by Trump’s hardline approach to immigration enforcement and expansive use of presidential power.
Trump is carrying out a campaign promise to deport immigrants, employing forceful tactics consistent with the norm-breaking political style that got him elected twice.
Between the rulings, Newsom said the National Guard would be redeployed to its previous tasks, including border security, preparing for wildfires and countering drug smuggling.
But the Trump administration immediately appealed the judge’s order, calling Breyer’s ruling “an extraordinary intrusion on the President’s constitutional authority as Commander in Chief”.
Trump justified the deployment of troops by characterising the protests in Los Angeles as a “rebellion”, but Breyer said in a temporary restraining order that the protests fell far short of that legal standard.
“The Court is troubled by the implication inherent in Defendants’ argument that protest against the federal government, a core civil liberty protected by the First Amendment, can justify a finding of rebellion,” Breyer wrote.
Trump has said if he had not ordered in the National Guard the city would be in flames. The protests so far have been mostly peaceful, punctuated by incidents of violence and restricted to a few city blocks.
Trump summoned the National Guard on Saturday, then the US Marines on Monday, to help federal police forces guard federal buildings from protesters and to protect federal immigration agents as they picked up suspected violators.
