Tonight in Your Rights: Trump's domestic military powers, unleashed
An appeals court lets Trump send troops to civilian streets. Mahmoud Khalil is freed on bail, and Harvard stays open to students globally.
Just a week after a federal judge found that Donald Trump’s order to deploy the National Guard on the streets of Los Angeles was likely illegal and unconstitutional — powers he found more fitting for “King George” than a constitutional democracy — a unanimous three-judge panel came to a dramatically different conclusion.
On Thursday night, the Ninth Circuit found that Trump “likely has authority to federalize the National Guard” in Los Angeles. Trump already seems to be interpreting the appellate court’s decision as a green light to send in the troops “all over the United States,” as he wrote on his social media platform minutes before midnight last night.
Even after the Ninth Circuit’s ruling, Trump’s powers aren’t boundless: Under the Posse Comitatus Act, the National Guard that Trump federalized generally can only be used to protect federal personnel and property, not civilian law enforcement.
Possible action item: Calling your reps
Last week, congressional phone lines got flooded with demands that their reps denounce Trump’s militarized response to protests, internal data from 5 Calls showed.
The Ninth Circuit also rejected Trump’s claim that no court can review a president’s decision to federalize the National Guard, but that judicial review appears to be narrow.
Recall: Trump justified deploying the National Guard under 10 U.S. Code § 12406, which requires findings that there has been either a “foreign invasion,” “rebellion,” or other upheaval that prevents the president from executing the laws through “regular forces.” Even then, the president’s orders “shall be issued through the governors of the States.”
In their ruling, the three-judge panel:
accepted Trump’s claim that the relatively small and mostly peaceful protests in Los Angeles could not be controlled with “regular forces.”
did not accept, or reject, Trump’s claim that the demonstrations were a “rebellion.”
found that “through the governor” did not require the governor’s consent or consultation.
The court found that their review must be “highly deferential” to any president under Supreme Court precedent dating back to 1827. It’s hard to imagine Trump chafing under the restraints of the standard that the Ninth Circuit applied to him, but the litigation continues.
For now, the three-judge panel only paused the order of U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who questioned at a hearing today whether he still has jurisdiction over the case.
Know your rights: They seem to be in constant flux in Trump’s America.
All Rise News keeps track of Trump’s use of the military in U.S. cities, attacks on political rivals and other power grabs. Paid subscribers never miss an update.
Mahmoud Khalil freed
A federal judge in New Jersey today ordered the release of Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil on bail after more than three months in federal immigration custody, where he missed the birth of his child.
Khalil was one of the first pro-Palestinian students and green card holders swept up in the Trump administration’s targeting of activists in higher education.
“No one should fear being jailed for speaking out in this country,” his attorney Alina Das said in a statement. “We are overjoyed that Mr. Khalil will finally be reunited with his family while we continue to fight his case in court.”
Since his arrest in New York City in March, federal judges have freed Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk and fellow Columbia students Yunseo Chung and Mohsen Mahdawi.
In April, the judge presiding over Mahdawi’s case compared the Trump administration’s actions toward student activists to the Red Scare. In Boston, a federal judge will hold a bench trial next month to decide whether the administration should be blocked from retaliating against student protesters based on speech.
All Rise News will cover that trial on July 7.
Harvard: Still open for international students
Trump lost his effort to block Harvard University from enrolling international students.
The three-page order from U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs prohibits the Trump administration from trying to revoke Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program — and gives them three days to describe their compliance with her directive.