Noah Feldman, Columnist

The National Guard Deployment in LA Is a Threat to Democracy

The law permits such action by the president only in cases of invasion, rebellion, or danger of a rebellion. This is none of those.

June 9, 2025 at 8:05 PM UTC

By Noah Feldman

Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of “To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People."

An unnecessary show of force.
Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg

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President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles, over the objection of California Governor Gavin Newsom, represents a structural threat to democracy. The law on which Trump relied permits domestic deployment only in cases of invasion by a foreign nation, rebellion, or danger of a rebellion.

Newsom said he intends to sue the Trump administration over the president’s action.

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