One day after a federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles during immigration enforcement and protests was illegal, the administration filed a notice of appeal.
Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco issued the ruling Tuesday, finding that the deployment was in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars most uses of U.S. troops on U.S. soil. The judge placed the ruling on hold until noon on Sept. 12 to give the Trump administration time to appeal.
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The notice to appeal was filed Wednesday with the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals.
Breyer's ruling was based on an 1878 law that prevents federal troops from being used for regular law enforcement activities. The Trump administration has argued that the troops were there to protect federal officers and property and they were not performing local policing duties.
"Once again, a rogue judge is trying to usurp the authority of the Commander-in-Chief to protect American cities from violence and destruction," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a message to City News Service on Tuesday. "President Trump saved Los Angeles, which was overrun by deranged leftist lunatics sowing mass chaos until he stepped in. While far-left courts try to stop President Trump from carrying out his mandate to Make America Safe Again, the President is committed to protecting law-abiding citizens, and this will not be the final say on the issue."
The ruling follows a lawsuit by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and a three-day trial in San Francisco federal court.
Trump deployed 4,000 National Guard and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in June.
The injunction applies only to the military in California, not nationally. Trump, who recently deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., said he may send troops to Chicago.
Last month, Trump said he can "do anything I want to do ... if I think our country is in danger."
According to the court's ruling, the Trump administration's use of federalized National Guard troops and Marines for civilian law enforcement in Los Angeles is illegal and the administration is permanently banned from engaging in the same or similar activity in the future.
That activity includes "arrests, apprehensions, searches, seizures, security patrols, traffic control, crowd control, riot control, evidence collection, interrogation, or acting as informants, unless and until defendants satisfy the requirements of a valid constitutional or statutory exception, as defined herein, to the Posse Comitatus Act," Breyer wrote in the order.
About 300 National Guard troops remain deployed to Los Angeles, and the Trump administration has said they would stay at least until November.
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