Trump’s militarization of the Los Angeles protests are a stark illustration of how knowledge about legal issues in the headlines directly affects your rights. Stay empowered.
All eyes may be on Los Angeles, but Donald Trump’s proclamation federalizing the National Guard extends far beyond the City of Angels.
“Gonna have troops everywhere”
In a live-streamed dissection of the law and politics of Trump’s power grab for
on Sunday, the panel — hosted by and featuring and me — discussed how Trump’s memorandum has a seemingly limitless reach.Here is the language with the relevant passage in bold.
“In light of these incidents and credible threats of continued violence, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard under 10 U.S.C. 12406 to temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations.”
McCord, a former senior national security official inside the Justice Department, said it should “alarm” people that Trump’s proclamation doesn’t mention Los Angeles at all.
“This is about the U.S. military and federalized National Guard being deterred from their actual missions, their actual jobs, the actual protection of our public safety and our national security to police First Amendment activity,” McCord said. That should be alarming to every American, regardless of your politics.”
At a press conference, Trump told reporters: “We’re gonna have troops everywhere.”
Rubin noted that the “open-ended” nature of the order purports to let Trump deploy the National Guard “anywhere in the United States.”
Possible action item:
Call your elected officials to find out where they stand on Trump’s militarized protest response.
Governors pushing back
On Sunday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter to Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth informing him that Trump’s proclamation goes beyond his power.
Trump has not yet invoked the Insurrection Act, instead relying on a rarely used statute: 10 U.S. Code § 12406, which requires a “rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States” to invoke. Trump’s attempt to define mostly peaceful protests as a “rebellion” echoes his repeatedly failed arguments calling immigration as an “invasion” in the Alien Enemies Act litigation.
Even then, the law makes clear: “Orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States.”
In the letter, Newsom’s legal affairs secretary called Trump’s actions a “serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation” — and asked Hegseth to “immediately rescind” the order.
Newsom said that every single Democratic governor stood with Los Angeles against Trump’s militarized response to the protests, which they called an “alarming abuse of power.” The governor signaled plans to file a lawsuit, which has not been filed by press time. For now, the National Guard has no authority to do anything more than protect federal officers and property.
Watch the full video at the top of the story for how this relates to the upcoming “No Kings” protests and other immigration and protest-related stories in the headlines.
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