Some other context: The DC Attorney General is currently suing the Trump administration on several grounds including a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA). PCA prevents the military from being used as law enforcement unless an express exception is provided in the Constitution or in an Act of Congress. Its significant that the Trump administration has already lost a case on the grounds that they violated the PCA. In Newsom vs Trump Trump’s lawyers mainly argued for a Constitutional exception to the PCA that permits the US military to perform some law enforcement duties under certain conditions. In a memo written by Hegseth, soldiers were permitted to perform law enforcement actions such as: crowd control, temporary detention, cursory searches, and the establishment of security perimeters when protecting federal property, personnel, or functions. There is a site for this mission that’s still up. That case was lost but appealed. The judge argued that this alleged power to use the military as law enforcement was way too broad. More to the point this is not an expressly stated executive power as required by the PCA but a power assumed from an implied reading of the Constitution. It has never been assumed before. The judge essentially asked that the soldiers be trained as usual without that exception.
The DC case on PCA grounds seems weaker than the California Case for two reasons:
DC has a lot less independence from the federal government than California. No National Guard troops were federally activated. They were either activated under Title 32 where the state retains command and control but the federal government funds (that did not seem to be the case) or they were DC National Guard which is under the President’s command by default.
The National Guard was a lot less active in DC than California. In California Marines and National Guard were providing direct tactical support for ICE. Nothing like that seemed to happen in DC.
I’m not a lawyer but I do think the DC case is still strong on the grounds that the National Guard was clearly placed under federal command and control when they were supposed to remain under state command and control (state militia status).
Some other context:
The DC Attorney General is currently suing the Trump administration on several grounds including a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA). PCA prevents the military from being used as law enforcement unless an express exception is provided in the Constitution or in an Act of Congress. Its significant that the Trump administration has already lost a case on the grounds that they violated the PCA. In Newsom vs Trump Trump’s lawyers mainly argued for a Constitutional exception to the PCA that permits the US military to perform some law enforcement duties under certain conditions. In a memo written by Hegseth, soldiers were permitted to perform law enforcement actions such as: crowd control, temporary detention, cursory searches, and the establishment of security perimeters when protecting federal property, personnel, or functions. There is a site for this mission that’s still up. That case was lost but appealed. The judge argued that this alleged power to use the military as law enforcement was way too broad. More to the point this is not an expressly stated executive power as required by the PCA but a power assumed from an implied reading of the Constitution. It has never been assumed before. The judge essentially asked that the soldiers be trained as usual without that exception.
The DC case on PCA grounds seems weaker than the California Case for two reasons:
DC has a lot less independence from the federal government than California. No National Guard troops were federally activated. They were either activated under Title 32 where the state retains command and control but the federal government funds (that did not seem to be the case) or they were DC National Guard which is under the President’s command by default.
The National Guard was a lot less active in DC than California. In California Marines and National Guard were providing direct tactical support for ICE. Nothing like that seemed to happen in DC.
I’m not a lawyer but I do think the DC case is still strong on the grounds that the National Guard was clearly placed under federal command and control when they were supposed to remain under state command and control (state militia status).