California National Guard at a food bank during the government shutdown

December 3, 2025 - OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta this week filed an amicus brief opposing the Trump Administration’s emergency appeal of a preliminary injunction order by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocking the deployment of National Guard troops from D.C. and seven other states to D.C. Attorney General Bonta co-leads a coalition of 22 attorneys general and three governors in asserting that the deployment of National Guard troops without the consent of D.C. is unlawful, unconstitutional, and undemocratic. Domestic use of the military has long been recognized as antithetical to American values, and as California’s experience has shown, it is deeply damaging to state sovereignty, local economies, public safety, and troop morale. In the brief, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition urge the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to uphold the lower court’s orders and make clear that the Constitution prohibits this unjustified deployment of the National Guard to police our communities.  

“President Trump is engaging in a sweeping effort to deploy National Guard troops to police American cities. This unprecedented abuse of presidential authority is unlawful, and it’s putting our communities at risk,” said Attorney General Bonta. “California has experienced first-hand the harms resulting from a continuous military presence. People scared to leave their homes. Local businesses losing customers. Distrust of law enforcement that makes our communities less safe. It’s past time the President ends this farce and allows National Guard troops to return to the essential roles they are actually trained for.” 

The experience of California, as the first state to experience President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard without its Governor’s consent, serves as a warning of the harm caused by a continuous military presence in a state. For more than five months, federalized California National Guard troops have been deployed in California’s communities. During this time, the troops’ presence has stoked fear among Californians, causing the public to stay home, fail to report for work, and avoid areas where the military is deployed. The use of federalized National Guard troops has damaged trust between local law enforcement and the community, as troops have been tasked with civilian law enforcement and were widely present during immigration raids in the first few weeks of their deployment. These troops were diverted away from essential state functions, like fighting wildfires or engaging in fentanyl interdiction. For example, in June 2025, the majority of the California National Guard’s specialized fire crews were diverted from their wildfire-fighting task force in the midst of peak fire season and instead deployed into the streets of Los Angeles.  

With California’s experience as a lesson, as well as the more recent experiences of Oregon and Illinois, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue that:

• Using the military for local law enforcement, as the President has done in the D.C., upsets the careful balance between civilian and military authority set forth in the Constitution.
• The deployment of National Guard troops infringes on the police powers reserved to States and localities. The Constitution establishes a federal government of limited, enumerated powers — general police power is not among them.  
• National Guard troops are not prepared to engage in civilian law enforcement, lacking training in criminal procedure, civil rights, criminal investigation, and de-escalation. This introduces complications and dangers to both the public and the troops engaging with them. 
• States need the National Guard to be available for vital natural disaster and security functions.

Attorney General Bonta is joined by the attorneys general of Maryland, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kansas, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania in filing the amicus brief. 

Source: CA. DOJ