Overview

• Opening on Aug. 11 in San Francisco, the three-day bench trial will examine if President Trump’s June activation of roughly 4,000 California National Guard troops and 700 Marines breached the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act
• Major General Scott Sherman testified that troops were barred from typical policing duties but authorized to set security perimeters when protesters threatened federal property
• Army deputy chief William B. Harrington acknowledged about 80 Guard members accompanied ICE on a July 7 operation at MacArthur Park and confirmed that 250 to 300 Guard members remain under federal activation
• The federal government maintains that the forces’ mission was limited to protecting federal buildings and personnel, while California contends their presence alongside ICE agents violated state sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment
• An appeals court stay has kept most Guard members under federal control pending appeal and Judge Breyer is expected to issue a ruling by Wednesday that could shape future domestic troop deployments