Rising This Week: Trump's troop deployment heads to trial
Days before a trial on alleged violations of the Posse Comitatus Act, the Trump admin extended troop deployments in Los Angeles until November.
Editor’s Note:
Lost in last week’s news cycle about Trump’s threats to ratchet up the use of the military on civilian streets was the imminent legal reckoning over his deployment of the National Guard.
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On the eve of a trial over his deployment of troops on the streets of Los Angeles, Donald Trump keeps doubling down on sending the military onto U.S. civilian streets.
Last week, Trump threatened to deploy the National Guard in Washington, D.C. after a DOGE employee was assaulted there in an attempted carjacking. The D.C. National Guard has not yet been activated, but the issue is coming up days before a big reckoning over Trump’s use of the military. In California, Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Department of Defense stand accused of violating the Posse Comitatus Act, which bans the use of the military for civilian law enforcement with limited exceptions. Trump’s Department of Defense issued an activation order last week deploying troops in Los Angeles for another 90 days until Nov. 6, 2025.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) noted in a legal filing that the Trump administration issued the directive “mere days before trial.”
“Even as Defendants acknowledge that the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits members of the military from engaging in civilian law enforcement activities, the military has done exactly that,” Bonta wrote on Saturday. “The evidence shows that Defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act by impeding the free movement of civilians through forming perimeters and blockades on public roads and sidewalks, apprehending or detaining civilians, and participating in federal civil law enforcement activities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (‘ICE’) raids across Southern California.”
Starting on Monday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer will hold a three-day bench trial considering evidence and arguments about the alleged violation of that law.
Breyer’s prior ruling finding Trump’s deployment of the National Guard illegal was paused on appeal. The three-judge panel noted that presidents have broad power over the military, but the appeals court did not weigh in on whether the administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which has been the law of the land since 1878.
On Saturday, attorneys for the state of California told the judge in a filing that the National Guard violated the law during their immigration raids on Camarillo and Carpinteria.
“In both the Camarillo and Carpinteria operations, federalized National Guard troops formed ‘security perimeters’ on public property and were stationed immediately adjacent to federal law enforcement agents also engaged in perimeter control,” Bonta wrote.
The state noted that a protester was detained during the Carpinteria operation, under the command of Task Force 51.
“The protestor whom the federalized National Guard troops apprehended was standing with a megaphone on public property, on the side of a public road (which Defendants have presented no evidence they had lawful authority to limit access to),” Bonta wrote.
According to court documents, Task Force 51’s Deputy Chief of Staff William Harrington conceded during pre-trial testimony that the “federalized National Guard troops are subject to the Posse Comitatus Act and are not allowed to engage in civilian law enforcement.” Harrington said “everyone” agreed that was true at a task force briefing.
During the trial, attorneys for California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will ask the judge to issue an injunction blocking the Trump administration from violating the Posse Comitatus Act.
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This week’s newsletter contains instructions about how to access the public audio feed for this week’s trial on Trump’s deployment of the military in Los Angeles.
Quick announcement
On Friday, I will be participating at the 2025 HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth) Conference at St. Johns University Queens, N.Y. Now in its third decade, the conference routinely brings together prominent figures in the hacking community, as well as in academia, journalism, and activism for talks, workshops, and lectures. Past attendees and speakers have included WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning, author Cory Doctorow and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.
At 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Aug. 15, I will interview Sahil Lavingia, a former engineer in Elon Musk’s DOGE who told NPR his tenure there left him feeling “surprised” by “how efficient” the government is. You can find more information about our scheduled conversation here.
In one of my first correspondence assignments more than a decade ago, I covered the Manning court-martial inside a military base in Fort Meade, Md. The release of hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables, war logs and Guantanamo Bay detainee profiles ushered in the age of mass leaks in journalism. Large data sets, including of hacked materials, would rock news cycles and elections to come. Journalism would never be the same. Going forward, the profession would have to grapple with the investigative opportunities and ethical challenges afforded by new technologies. This year’s list of featured speakers shows how the hacking community is still shaping our national conversation.
They include:
Joshua Aaron, the creator of the ICEBlock app, which allows users to anonymously report immigration enforcement activity;
404 Media co-founder Joseph Cox, discussing government infiltration of encrypted chats; and
Former Obama campaign chief technology officer Harper Reed, exploring how big tech and artificial intelligence can be used for “pro-social” outcomes.
That is to say, this is a conference to watch. Our other weekly listings are below.
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