Constitutional Crisis Looms as Trump Overrides California Governor in Rare Federal Power Move

Credit: Skynews Australia

A constitutional showdown emerged Sunday as President Donald Trump invoked rarely-used federal authority to deploy National Guard troops in California against Governor Gavin Newsom's wishes, setting up the most significant federal-state confrontation since the civil rights era.

Trump's decision to federalize 300 California National Guard members without state consent represents only the second such action in 60 years, legal experts said, potentially establishing new precedents for presidential power during domestic unrest.

Constitutional law professor Jessica Levinson warned the escalation could lead to even more extraordinary federal intervention under the Insurrection Act, which would allow military forces to operate as domestic police on U.S. soil.

"We're confronting some situations here where we don't have close historical analogs, frankly," Levinson said during Sunday interviews as protests continued in Los Angeles.

Federal Authority Versus State Rights

The deployment highlights tensions between federal immigration enforcement and state sovereignty, with California officials characterizing Trump's actions as federal overreach into traditionally state-controlled functions.

Former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney acknowledged the unusual nature of the intervention, explaining that National Guard forces typically operate under state authority rather than federal command.

"The National Guard under our system is a state-based system. They are not federal troops," Mulvaney said. "The president of the United States does have the authority to federalize them, to call them into federal service. And that is what Trump has done here."

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