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Trump Is Inventing Legal Emergencies to Make Himself More Powerful - Madiba Dennie @ Balls and Strikes
Balls and StrikesOn Friday, following multiple raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Los Angeles residents took to the streets to protest the abduction and removal of their neighbors from the country. President Donald Trump responded on Saturday by issuing a memorandum that deputizes “at least 2,000 National Guard personnel” to “temporarily protect” ICE agents and ICE property while the raids continue. As of Monday, there were approximately 1,700 National Guard soldiers under federal command in the greater Los Angeles area, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered an additional 2,000 California National Guard members into federal service later that day.
Trump’s memo also instructed Hegseth to employ the regular armed forces “as necessary to augment and support the protection of Federal functions and property.” On Monday, the administration followed through, deploying 700 Marines to “integrate” with National Guard troops already on the ground in California.
As justification, the memo points to 10 U.S.C. 12406, a federal statute that allows presidents to federalize the National Guard in the event of an “invasion by a foreign nation,” a “rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States,” or if “the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.” On Monday morning, California leaders announced that they would sue the Trump administration for its takeover of the state’s national guard, in part because these statutorily-required circumstances simply don’t exist.
“Let me be clear: There is no invasion. There is no rebellion,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “The President is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends.” As California puts it in its complaint, “primarily peaceful protests with some acts of violence or civil disobedience do not rise to the level of a rebellion.”
Trump’s memo also instructed Hegseth to employ the regular armed forces “as necessary to augment and support the protection of Federal functions and property.” On Monday, the administration followed through, deploying 700 Marines to “integrate” with National Guard troops already on the ground in California.
As justification, the memo points to 10 U.S.C. 12406, a federal statute that allows presidents to federalize the National Guard in the event of an “invasion by a foreign nation,” a “rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States,” or if “the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.” On Monday morning, California leaders announced that they would sue the Trump administration for its takeover of the state’s national guard, in part because these statutorily-required circumstances simply don’t exist.
“Let me be clear: There is no invasion. There is no rebellion,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. “The President is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends.” As California puts it in its complaint, “primarily peaceful protests with some acts of violence or civil disobedience do not rise to the level of a rebellion.”
literally this
— Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie (@audrelawdamercy.bsky.social) 2025-06-11T12:23:09.350Z
it's v much splitting hairs to say 'oh Trump hasn't violated Posse Comitatus bc the military isn't enforcing the law, they're just giving moral support to the ICE agents enforcing the law'
gonna go ahead and call BS on that one
ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...