Trial Begins Over Trump’s Use of National Guard in California

The trial is expected to last three days and address whether Trump violated the law with his use of National Guard troops.

Anti-ICE protesters confront federal agents and California National Guardsmen in Los Angeles on June 8, 2025. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A federal court began hearing testimony on Aug. 11 in a trial to determine whether President Donald Trump illegally used National Guard troops for law enforcement in California.

The trial is part of a broader legal debate over the federal government’s power in combating lawlessness in the country. On the day the trial started, Trump said he would activate National Guard troops to combat crime in Washington.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who is overseeing the trial, previously blocked Trump’s use of National Guard troops, but an appeals court halted that decision.

Breyer’s decision had focused on whether Trump violated a federal law that directs the president to issue orders through a state’s governor. This trial is focused on whether Trump violated a law, known as the Posse Comitatus Act, by using federal troops for civilian law enforcement.

The trial is expected to last three days with multiple witnesses. The state of California brought three witnesses on Aug. 11, including Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, who led the troops in the state.

His testimony, and another by Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office Director Ernesto Santacruz Jr., probed the relationship between federal law enforcement and the activities of military troops called into California.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who initially sued the administration in June, is alleging that the Trump administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act by using troops for direct involvement in civilian law enforcement activities, such as forming blockades and detaining civilians.

Last week, the Justice Department argued that the trial should be canceled. Among other things, it argued that the federalized National Guard troops were not executing the laws but were instead focused on the protection of federal property and personnel performing federal functions.

Besides, it said, another section of federal law allows the National Guard to execute the law. It was referring to Section 12406 of federal law, which allows the president to federalize the National Guard under certain conditions, including if he “is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”

That was the law that Breyer previously said the president violated.

According to testimony from Sherman, troops were conducting multiple requests for assistance as of the night of Aug. 10.

The Department of Defense said on June 11 that it was deploying more than 4,000 troops, including Marines and members of the National Guard.

By Aug. 5, the Justice Department told Breyer that less than 10 percent of the originally deployed force—or about 300 Guardsmen—remained.

During Sherman’s testimony, an attorney for California played a portion of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s speech that morning about plans for mobilizing the National Guard in Washington.

In the nation’s capital, Trump is calling up hundreds of National Guard troops and has invoked a law that puts the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington under his control for 48 hours.

House Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) accused Trump of a “phony, manufactured crisis” and said he would introduce a resolution to “restore full home rule powers to the Mayor, Council, and people of the District of Columbia.”

Jackson Richman contributed to this report.