Photo: Jim Vondruska / Getty ImagesA long anticipated showdown begins today in a California federal courtroom.Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has challenged the right of President Trump to deploy federal troops over ICE protests in Los Angeles. The White House argues that the deployment is proper to help quell rebellion against the federal government.At issue is the Posse Comitatus Act. I’ve written about this at length before, but in sum, the Act criminalizes the use of federal armed forces to conduct civilian law enforcement. Newsom argues that there was no legal exception to Posse Comitatus here, and therefore their deployment is illegal. The White House claims the troops aren’t conducting law enforcement activities, and that no civil suit enforcement mechanism is legally authorized.Perhaps in anticipation of that argument, Newsom also argues that Trump violated the Tenth Amendment, which reserves to the states all powers not expressly given to the federal
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