(Updated to reflect federal appeals court ruling keeping Trump deployment order in place)
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday joined with 21 other states supporting California’s federal lawsuit seeking to reverse President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles to quell immigration protesters.
Kelly joined the friend-of-the-court brief led by Washington Attorney General Nicholas Brown, urging a federal judge in San Francisco to grant a preliminary injunction blocking the deployment of roughly 4,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles.
The president ordered the military presence after protests erupted as he increased enforcement of immigration laws.
The lawsuit, filed Monday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta, alleges Trump violated the U.S. Constitution by sending military forces into a U.S. city without the request or approval of the governor or local officials.
The Trump administration has defended the deployments as necessary to keep order and protect federal officials and facilities. The administration said the lawsuit is meritless.
In a statement, Kelly said that the federalization of the California National Guard by the president without the coordination of the governor is a violation of states’ rights.
“President Trump’s actions constitute a threat to the authority of the nation’s governors to command their National Guard,” Kelly said in a statement.
“I joined this brief to preserve state sovereignty and halt federalization of state National Guards without the coordination of their governors.”
The brief characterized the president’s action as “unlawful, unconstitutional, and undemocratic.”
“It is also wholly inconsistent with one of our nation’s founding principles that freedom depends on the subordination of the military to civilian authority,” the brief said.
“By calling forth troops when there is no invasion to repel, no rebellion to suppress, and when state and local law enforcement is fully able to execute the laws, the president flouts the vision of our founders, undermines the rule of law, and sets a chilling precedent that puts the constitutional rights of Americans in every state at risk,” the brief said.
Late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer – the younger brother of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer – ruled against Trump.
Breyer ruled that the deployment violated the law.
However, a federal appeals court later blocked Breyer’s order, setting a hearing for next Tuesday, meaning that Trump’s order will remain in place until at least then.
Last weekend, Kelly, who is chair of the Democratic Governors Association, joined in a statement with other Democratic governors condemning the president’s action.
They called Trump’s actions an “alarming abuse of power.”
“Governors are the commanders in chief of their National Guard,” they said.
“The federal government activating them in their own borders without consulting or working with a state’s governor is ineffective and dangerous.”
The statement drew criticism from Republicans in Kansas, including a couple running for governor.
“President Trump is right to restore law and order by bringing in the National Guard,” said Senate President Ty Masterson, a likely candidate for governor in 2026.
“It is appalling that Gov. Kelly not only sided with Gavin Newsom and the lawless rioters waving foreign flags, but is now participating in legal action against restoring law and order,” Masterson said in a statement.
“President Trump’s use of the National Guard to stop the violent mob that is setting police vehicles on fire, assaulting law enforcement officers, and destroying government property is 100% justified,” he said.
“It is shocking that Governor Kelly has chosen to walk in lock step with far left extremists.”
