The Chamberlain Network Files Amicus Brief Opposing Federalization of the California National Guard
Atlanta, GA: The Chamberlain Network has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Newsom v. Trump (No. 25-3727), supporting California’s challenge to the President’s decision to federalize and deploy the California National Guard to Los Angeles earlier this summer. Our message to the Court is grounded in lived experience: America is strongest when the military serves the nation—not the political priorities of any one leader.
Why we filed.
Veterans understand the difference between defending the nation and policing our own people. For generations, service members have been trained to face foreign enemies under clear rules of engagement—not to confront fellow Americans at the direction of a president frustrated with a state’s political leadership. When Guard units are federalized without the extraordinary circumstances Congress required, it corrodes trust, stretches already overburdened units, and forces service members into situations they did not sign up for.
Our brief aims to help the Court see what these deployments mean through the eyes of those who have worn the uniform.
The core principles at stake.
(1) Congress authorized federalizing the Guard only in cases of invasion, rebellion, or genuine breakdown of federal authority. Localized protest-related violence—even when unlawful—does not meet that threshold. A “danger of rebellion” is not the same thing as political disagreement, and “unable to execute the laws” does not mean “unable to do so as efficiently as the President prefers.”
(2) Domestic deployments carry real human and institutional risk. Service members train to protect Americans, not to treat them as battlefield threats. Unnecessary domestic missions create traumatic moral dissonance, raise the risk of tragic escalations, and undermine recruitment and retention across the force.
(3) A politicized military is a weaker military. The Los Angeles deployment followed months of public conflict between the President and California’s leadership. Sending troops into that dispute—over state objections—distorts the military’s apolitical role and invites the public to see servicemembers as instruments of partisan will. That is dangerous for the force and for the country.
Our position.
A strong, trusted military stays out of domestic politics and is used on U.S. soil only in the gravest emergencies. We urge the Ninth Circuit to affirm the district court and restore the statutory guardrails that protect servicemembers, the rule of law, and the military’s nonpartisan character.
Read our amicus brief: The Chamberlain Network & Military Veterans, Brief for Amici Curiae in Support of Appellees, Newsom v. Trump, No. 25-3727 (9th Cir. Sept. 9, 2025).