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LOS ANGELES – California Attorney General Rob Bonta has presented a new argument to a federal appeals court for why the panel should block President Donald Trump’s continued federalization of the state National Guard, according to court papers obtained Wednesday.
Since Trump first federalized California National Guard troops in early June, the administration has “dramatically broadened its efforts to use these troops beyond the Los Angeles area, and for activities unrelated to protecting federal personnel and buildings,” according to the AG.
In new filings Tuesday with the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Bonta argues that the instances of civil unrest in Los Angeles that gave rise to the deployment have subsided, and the Trump administration has deployed members of the National Guard for routine law enforcement operations far from Southern California in ways that have nothing to do with the original basis for their deployment.
Trump has said he plans to send remaining National Guard members deployed to California to Portland, Oregon. On Tuesday, the president sent members to Chicago, Illinois — a move that “cannot be reconciled with the administration’s assertions about the harm it would suffer without California National Guard boots on the ground in the Los Angeles area,” Bonta argued.
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
In light of these changes, Bonta is asking the appeals panel to lift its stay of a lower court order blocking the federalization of the California National Guard.
“President Trump is seeking to deploy the California National Guard as his own personal, traveling police force –indefinitely, anywhere in the country,” the AG said in a statement. “This is a far cry from what the Ninth Circuit considered back in June when the administration claimed it would suffer serious harm if the National Guard were not available in Los Angeles.
“The administration’s recent actions in Portland and Chicago entirely undermine any basis for a continued stay of the order blocking federalization. I urge the Ninth Circuit to vacate its earlier stay order in light of the dramatically different landscape today — and the president’s clear intent to use and abuse the military domestically. The escalating use of American communities as a training ground for the military must stop now.”
In June, Bonta and California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s orders to federalize the California National Guard and use National Guard troops for civilian law enforcement in Los Angeles, claiming they violated federal statutes and constitutional limitations.
That same week, the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted emergency relief, blocking the federalization order and returning command of the National Guard to Newsom.
That order is currently stayed by the Ninth Circuit pending appeal. (With CNS report)
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