Trump defeated in court: troops in Los Angeles illegal. But the ruling is suspended on appeal

Donald Trump loses in court, with a judge declaring his deployment of troops in Los Angeles unlawful. But an immediate late-night appeal by the administration saw an appeals court at least temporarily suspend the ruling, until hearings on the merits perhaps next week.

The panel of three appellate judges, two appointed by Trump, did not rule on the legality of the White House's moves but froze the first instance magistrate's decision without giving reasons, thus allowing for now the continued presence of soldiers alongside anti-immigration operations. The administration had asked the Court of Appeal to intervene, calling the rejection it had just suffered in the first instance an 'extraordinary interference' in presidential authority.

However, the federal judge of the first instance, Charles Breyer, appointed at the time by Bill Clinton, had gone into the merits of the military mobilisation and concluded that it was Trump who had acted completely outside the law. He had thus declared the deployment of National Guard soldiers illegal and blocked it at the end of an emergency hearing and ordered their return under the control of California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who had opposed their use.

The order was to come into force at noon today local time on the Pacific coast. The decision went even further than the request of the California authorities, who had demanded clear limits on the soldiers' actions for the sole protection of federal buildings, i.e. without them acting as support for anti-immigration raids or the control of protests.

The judge had delivered a harsh judgement on Trump's move: 'His actions exceeded his statutory authority and violated the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution'. The Amendment cited governs the balance of federal and state powers. Breyer had added that the legislation invoked by Trump to mobilise soldiers, in response to rebellion or invasion, has no value in the circumstances since 'the protests in Los Angeles fall well short of a rebellion'. The magistrate had, however, indicated that the administration, which instead upholds the President's total discretion in declaring an emergency, had the chance to appeal, which it immediately did.