California Governor Gavin Newsom intends to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration in response to the deployment of 300 members of the state’s National Guard to Portland, Oregon, his office announced Sunday.
“In response to a federal court order that blocked his attempt to federalize the Oregon National Guard, President Trump is deploying 300 California National Guard personnel into Oregon,” Newsom said in a statement. “They are on their way there now. This is a breathtaking abuse of the law and power. The Trump Administration is unapologetically attacking the rule of law itself and putting into action their dangerous words — ignoring court orders and treating judges, even those appointed by the President himself, as political opponents.”
“This isn’t about public safety, it’s about power. The commander-in-chief is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens. We will take this fight to court, but the public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the President of the United States,” he concluded.
Trump’s decision comes one day after a federal judge temporarily blocked his administration from deploying the National Guard to Oregon.
Trump appointee U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued a temporary restraining order which will expire on Oct. 18 and wrote that the deployment would violate three core tenets of democracy: “The relationship between the federal government and the states, between the military and domestic law enforcement, and the balance of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.”
“Whether we choose to follow what the Constitution mandates with respect to these three relationships goes to the heart of what it means to live under the rule of law in the United States,” she also said.
Trump’s deployment of military to Portland follows similar moves in several other cities, most of which are run by Democrats, like Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Chicago and Memphis.
