CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig has no idea whether the Democrats’ lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles will be successful or not.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the suit on Monday, arguing in a statement that Trump’s order “infringes on Governor [Gavin] Newsom’s role as Commander-in-Chief of the California National Guard and violates the state’s sovereign right to control and have available its National Guard in the absence of a lawful invocation of federal power.”
NEWS: @CAGovernor and I are suing to put a stop to President Trump’s unlawful, unprecedented order calling federalized National Guard forces into Los Angeles.
The President is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends.
This is an abuse of… pic.twitter.com/PLomWOwCxv
— Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) June 9, 2025
Appearing on CNN this Monday, Honig noted that despite Trump’s deployment marking the first time a president has federalized the National Guard since 1965, the administration didn’t invoke the Insurrection Act to get it done.
Instead, the administration used 10 U.S. Code § 12406.
“The law that the Trump administration is using to deploy the National Guard says this: It says the president has the power to deploy the National Guard to a state in any of three circumstances,” he noted.
“First of all, if there’s an invasion or a danger of invasion. That’s not in play here. Second of all, if there’s a rebellion or danger of rebellion. Trump did cite that in his order. And then third, a sort of catch-all, if the president is unable, with regular forces, to execute the laws of the United States. Trump cited that as well,” he added.
Honig continued by pointing out that Bonta’s lawsuit zeroes in on the language used in the law, 10 U.S. Code § 12406, that Trump invoked. The law specifically says that the federalization of the National Guard “shall be issued through the governors of the States.”
FYI, Trump never did that. He instead directly federalized the force.
(Video Credit: CNN)
“This is what California, in their lawsuit, really seizes on,” Honig said. “So, the main argument California makes in this lawsuit is, ‘Well, this was not issued through the governor, through Gavin Newsom. This was Donald Trump directly to the National Guard.’”
But, he cautioned, Trump may already have a way to bypass this.
“Now, I can tell you what the response is gonna be. We haven’t seen it yet, but the Trump administration’s gonna say, ‘That’s just a technicality. It’s really the president’s call,'” the CNN analyst noted.
As a result, he concluded, it’s really hard to tell who’s going to win the case.
“The answer is, we don’t know, because this particular statute has only ever been invoked one prior time in American history,” he explained. “There had been other instances of the Insurrection Act. That’s not what we’re talking about here.”
“This specific law was only invoked once. It was in 1970, and it involved the postal workers’ strike where Richard Nixon deputized the National Guard to deliver the mail. So, a very different scenario. That one didn’t even go to the courts. So, we are really in unknown territory here,” he added.
BREAKING NEWS: California Attorney General Rob Bonta announces that he — along with Gavin Newsom — is SUING PRESIDENT TRUMP!
They’ll defend criminals, illegals, & rioters.
Then they’ll do everything they can to stop those trying to maintain law & order. pic.twitter.com/NgIvC2WviP
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 9, 2025
Critics have, for their part, been piling on Bonta and his “frivolous” lawsuit.
“File your stupid lawsuit and waste our tax dollars. You will lose,” one critic tweeted. “This Californian does not support you or the failed governor. You are ruining a once great state.”
See more responses below:
So, in short, yet another frivolous lawsuit by a vexatious litigant.
— Bobby (@Bobbythegreat) June 9, 2025
Maybe instead of jumping to filing a lawsuit, you should be spending time on trying to figure out how to protect the American Citizens living in LA
— deldana (@DeldanaL) June 9, 2025
This is why literally all Californians hate you guys. You are completely out of touch with the people . You know nothing. Everything you do hurts us not helps us.
— podfire (@podofthedesert) June 9, 2025
All you had to do was be honest that some of this was not anywhere near peacefull and enforce the law, simple, instead now you have a far left lunatic liberal govenor pulling your strings like your a hand puppet
— Mark Schmidt (@MucksVP) June 9, 2025
Lol, good luck, too many videos exist of the so-called “manufactured chaos”. @realDonaldTrump and @AGPamBondi will eat you up in court. Federal intervention became a necessity when state and local government officials failed to get control, along with local law enforcements…
— The Sandman 2 (@Joe_Palooka_2) June 9, 2025
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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