Judge Finds Trump Is Illegally Using the Military As a ‘National Police Force’

As President Donald Trump threatens to deploy federal troops to Chicago in a continuation of his attempted power grab within prominent Democratic cities, a federal judge has ruled that his deployment of military personnel to Los Angeles in June violated the Posse Comitatus Act.

On Tuesday, Northern District of California Judge Charles Breyer ruled that the Trump administration “violated the Posse Comitatus Act,” which prohibits the use of the military as a mechanism of civilian law enforcement, when it deployed hundreds of members of the National Guard, and later U.S. Marines, to Los Angeles in response to protests against raids and arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“Congress spoke clearly in 1878 when it passed the Posse Comitatus Act, prohibiting the use of the U.S. military to execute domestic law,” Breyer wrote. “There were indeed protests in Los Angeles, and some individuals engaged in violence. Yet there was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law… In short, defendants violated the Posse Comitatus Act.”

Breyer added that Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “have stated their intention to call National Guard troops into federal service in other cities across the country — including Oakland and San Francisco, here in the Northern District of California — thus creating a national police force with the president as its chief.”