Court order curbs federal commandeering of California National Guard, governor says

The governor said a 36-page court order by Justice Breyer confirmed that the president cannot override a state governor to commandeer the California National Guard, and announced the guard would return to state command "by noon tomorrow." "We, the people, passed the test," the governor said.

The governor said the order found the president's asserted authority was not supported by the legal standards the court reviewed. "Section 12 4 0 6, clearly there's no invasion. There's no rebellion," the governor said, repeating language from the court analysis that he said undercut the federal assertion of control.

The governor described how the guard will resume prior duties: border security and counter-drug and fentanyl enforcement, vegetation and forest management for wildfire season (which he described as the guard's "rattlesnake teams" work), and other law-enforcement support the governor said had been taken away. "The national guard men and women will go back to their day jobs," he said, adding they had been "commandeered" for other missions.

He criticized the reported use of active-duty military in city streets as improper, calling such use "an abomination" and asserting that the founding principles of the Constitution bar such military involvement in domestic policing. "The police do policing. Military... it's for the battlefield," he said.

The governor said he was "gratified" by the order and expressed confidence it would hold on appeal, citing confidence in the rule of law and in the judge who issued the ruling. He urged adherence to the order and warned that the presidency "must work under the constraints as a constitutional officer of the constitution of The United States."