Trump Admin Suffers 3 Legal Defeats in One Day

The justices handed the Trump administration three legal defeats on Tuesday.

The White House confirmed to Newsweek that these decisions will be appealed.

Why It Matters

Trump’s agenda on various issues, including immigration, tariffs, and the restructuring of the federal government, has been challenged in court, and judges across the country have sometimes sided with the plaintiffs. The justices ruled against Trump on Tuesday in three separate cases related to the deployment of federal troops in Los Angeles, deportations, and the firing of a Federal Trade Commission commissioner.

Federal Troops Deployed in Los Angeles

Justice Charles Breyer ruled that Trump’s use of the National Guard to quell protests and riots related to his immigration policies in Los Angeles earlier this summer violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits the use of the military for domestic purposes.

Nearly 140 years later, the defendants—President Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and the Department of Defense—deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles, ostensibly to suppress an insurrection and ensure federal immigration enforcement, Breyer wrote.

White House press secretary Anna Kelly responded to the ruling in a statement to Newsweek.

She said: “Once again, an incompetent judge is attempting to usurp the commander in chief’s authority to protect American cities from violence and destruction. President Trump saved Los Angeles, which was overrun by deranged leftists who wreaked havoc until he intervened. While far-left courts attempt to prevent President Trump from fulfilling his mandate to make America safe again, the president has an obligation to protect law-abiding citizens, and that will not be the final decision in this case.”

The Trump administration argued that California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, had failed to adequately respond to the Los Angeles protests. Newsom countered that Trump lacked the legal authority to deploy the federal National Guard in this case, as local law enforcement had already handled the situation.

Trend de Aragua Deportations

In other news, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Trump could not use the “enemy alien” law to deport members of the Venezuelan gang Trend de Aragua.

The administration designated Trend de Aragua a terrorist organization and argued that these groups had invaded the United States.

The majority decision stated that “there is no unreasonable invasion or incursion” to justify using the law for deportation.

To clarify our decision, two justices agreed that the revised notification procedures complied with the rules of procedure, at least on the facts. We declare, as did the Supreme Court, that our injunction applies only to the use of federal law in wartime and does not prohibit the use of any other legal authority to remove foreign terrorists, the opinion states.

Judge Andrew Oldham, a Trump appointee, disagreed with the decisions of the other two judges in the case, Leslie Southwick and Irma Carrillo Ramirez.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Removal

The Trump administration suffered a third defeat: the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., upheld a lower court’s ruling that Trump lacked the authority to remove FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter.

This decision, passed by a narrow two-vote margin, reinstated Slaughter after she was fired without cause by Trump in March.

White House press secretary Kush Desai commented on the decision in a statement to Newsweek. He said: “President Trump acted lawfully in firing Rebecca Slaughter from the Federal Trade Commission. In fact, the Supreme Court has twice in recent months upheld the president’s authority to remove the heads of executive agencies. We look forward to arguing our third case and hope that with this decision, lower courts will stop defying Supreme Court rulings.”

Public Opinions

“As the Trump administration moves to illegally abolish independent agencies, including the Federal Reserve, I am encouraged by the Supreme Court’s recognition that it is not above the law,” Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said in a statement cited by The New York Times.

“The decision is clear: Trump is breaking the law by attempting to create a national police force that he runs himself,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X on Tuesday.

“President Trump’s invocation of the ancestral right to war in peacetime is unprecedented and illegal; without the court rulings preventing it, the administration would have sent even more people to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, without due process,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrant Rights Project, wrote in June.

What happens next?

According to the White House, both cases will likely be appealed. Meanwhile, other legal cases related to Trump’s policies are still pending in the courts.