Gavin Newsom is suing Donald Trump over the mobilization of the National Guard to quell immigration-related protests in Los Angeles.
The complaint, filed Monday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta on behalf of the Governor against the President, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and the Defense Department, argues that Trump’s federalization of the National Guard “contravenes core statutory and constitutional restrictions.” It added that the “defendants have overstepped the bounds of law and are intent on going as far as they can to use the military in unprecedented, unlawful ways.”
In a statement about the lawsuit, Newsom and Bonta accused Trump of creating a crisis in California. “This is him intentionally causing chaos, terrorizing communities, and endangering the principles of our great democracy. It is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism,” said Newsom. “The President is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends,” said Bonta.
Later Monday, after Hegseth deployed around 700 active-duty U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton to Los Angeles, Newsom said in a post on X that California “will sue to stop this,” too. “The Courts and Congress must act. Checks and balances are crumbling. This is a red line—and they’re crossing it. WAKE UP!”
In another post on X, Newsom called the deployment of Marines “un-American,” saying: “U.S. Marines have served honorably across multiple wars in defense of democracy. They are heroes. They shouldn’t be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President.”
