The state of California in the United States on Monday filed a lawsuit against the administration of US President Donald Trump over its move to take control of the state's National Guard and deploy troops in Los Angeles to protect immigration agents. Trump is accused of "unprecedented usurpation of state power and resources," The New York Times reports, UNN writes.
Details
The 22-page complaint, filed in San Francisco Federal District Court, alleges that Trump is violating both federal law and the Constitution. The document seeks a court order overturning the deployment of the National Guard and returning control to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
"President Trump has repeatedly used emergency powers to exceed the limits of legitimate executive power. On Saturday, June 7, he used a protest controlled by local authorities to carry out another unprecedented power grab, this time at the cost of the sovereignty of the State of California and in disregard of the authority and role of the Governor as Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard of the State," the complaint reads.
The lawsuit alleges that President Trump's federalization of the state's National Guard was illegal because the move bypassed California Governor Gavin Newsom and violated the 10th Amendment, which protects states' rights.
Governor Gavin Newsom predicted the filing of the lawsuit in a social media post earlier on Monday, a day of rapid developments that began with an emphasis on the exit of the federalized National Guard to the streets of Los Angeles, but ended with a significant escalation, amid US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's announcement that he was sending 700 Marines to the region.
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In an interview on Monday, Newsom warned other governors across the country that Trump could repeat his move in their states under the guise of suppressing protests against the administration's immigration crackdown.
"The president's order, which we are challenging, is a national order. It's not just about Los Angeles. And so I continue to remind my fellow governors - not just Democratic governors, but also Republicans - of how important this is and how significant the escalation is," Newsom said.
But while the complaint notes that "the use of regular armed forces is similarly illegal here," it does not develop the idea in detail and does not seek a court order to return the Marines to their base. Perhaps, as the publication writes, the state will later file an expanded complaint.
The complaint also alleged that by sending troops to perform a law enforcement function to control protests - a public safety task for which state authorities say the Los Angeles Police Department and the Sheriff's Department are best prepared - the Trump administration is violating the 10th Amendment, which preserves states' rights.
The lawsuit argued that the use of military force "to suppress a protest or prevent future protests, despite the lack of evidence that local law enforcement is unable to establish control and ensure public safety during such protests, is precisely the type of interference with state authority that underlies the 10th Amendment."
Addition
US President Donald Trump said he made the right decision by sending the National Guard to fight the violent, riot-provoked riots in California, and if he had not, Los Angeles would have been completely destroyed.