Trump Cheers Court After Whiplash Appeal Restores His National Guard Control: ‘We Saved L.A.!’

Photo by Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Sipa USA(Sipa via AP Images)

President Donald Trump celebrated a federal appeals court ruling Thursday that granted him a temporary legal victory in his use of military force on U.S. soil, allowing the National Guard to remain deployed and under his control in Los Angeles as immigration protests stretch into their second week.

The decision, handed down Thursday night by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, paused an earlier ruling by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who found the president’s deployment unlawful and ordered control of the Guard returned to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The legal whiplash, pausing Breyer’s 36-page rebuke just two hours after it dropped, left Los Angeles caught between two clashing branches of government and a national debate over presidential power, immigration enforcement, and military presence in civilian life.

Trump cheered the result on Friday morning via Truth Social:

The Appeals Court ruled last night that I can use the National Guard to keep our cities, in this case Los Angeles, safe. If I didn’t send the Military into Los Angeles, that city would be burning to the ground right now. We saved L.A. Thank you for the Decision!!!

A battalion of 700 U.S. Marines is expected to arrive Friday to support the Guard, an extraordinary escalation that critics, including Newsom, argue smacks of authoritarian excess. The troops have been guarding a federal detention center downtown, where protests have centered.

“I’m confident, on the basis of the review of the 36 pages – absolutely it will stand,” Newsom said of the district judge’s order.

The panel will hold a hearing Tuesday to consider whether to uphold Breyer’s order.