Source Link
Excerpt:
The Justice Department told a federal court on Wednesday that it should not grant a request from Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) to block President Donald Trump‘s use of troops to quell violence in Los Angeles, saying the claims of Newsom’s lawsuit are “baseless.”
California officials had filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday against Trump’s use of the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles to protect federal property amid protests, some of which turned violent, over immigration raids. Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta asked District Judge Charles Breyer to issue a temporary restraining order quickly on Tuesday, but Breyer instead set a hearing for Thursday to consider the motion.
In a filing to the court Wednesday, the DOJ argued California officials were attempting to stop the president “from exercising his lawful statutory and constitutional power to ensure that federal personnel and facilities are protected.”
“There is no rioters’ veto to enforcement of federal law,” the DOJ said in its filing. “And the President has every right under the Constitution and by statute to call forth the National Guard and Marines to quell lawless violence directed against enforcement of federal law. Yet instead of working to bring order to Los Angeles, California and its Governor filed a lawsuit in San Francisco seeking a court order limiting the federal government’s ability to protect its property and officials.”
“The extraordinary relief Plaintiffs request would judicially countermand the Commander in Chief’s military directives – and would do so in the posture of a temporary restraining order, no less. That would be unprecedented. It would be constitutionally anathema. And it would be dangerous,” the DOJ added.
