Hegseth won't commit to obeying courts on Marines in Los Angeles

[highplainsdem]

Source: Politico

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to say whether he would follow the courts if they ruled against President Donald Trump’s deployment of active-duty Marines to Los Angeles.

The Pentagon chief repeatedly deflected when asked Thursday at a House Armed Services Committee hearing whether he would respect a federal district or Supreme Court decision on the issue.

“What I can say is we should not have local judges determining foreign policy or national security policy for the country,” Hegseth said.

Trump has ordered the Pentagon to deploy 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel in response to mass deportation protests. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has said the troops are not necessary, is suing to remove them.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/12/hegseth-marines-los-angeles-00402794

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I'd give him an F on understanding his duties, an F on knowing the Constitution, but an A+ on being a Trump toady.

[moonshinegnomie]

1. if a court says its illegal

and they stil show up LA can then start arresting them for vioaltions of any local laws including carrying a weapon

[hamsterjill]

2. His refusal to answer IS his answer.

They have no intention of following the courts. They want a dictatorship. They are ready to use military force to advance their cause.

[BOSSHOG]

3. SECDEF WILL NOT FOLLOW

Lawful orders. Conservative values displayed again.

[Moostache]

4. I peg him (Hegseth) as a "hang-himself-in-prison" type...

When the time comes to answer for his criminality, he will look for the easy way out in about 30 seconds once he knows his life ends in a cage for crimes against humanity he supports and is going to continue authorizing and ordering.

I doubt he has the guts to poison himself. He does not give off the strong man vibes to me... more like punk ass stooge vibes (which are not a winning defense - a word of warning to any active duty troops thinking this is carte blanche to out-brutalize L.A.P.D. because they were 'ordered' to do so)...

And for anyone naive enough to believe this is actually about immigration and not a test case for rounding up "revolutionaries" and "intellectuals" and "subversives" next, you also have been put on notice. This is not a joke or hyperbole - our Constitution is being used as toilet paper before our eyes and on OUR STREETS.

[FirstLight]

5. Basically the same as the courts rulings on ANYTHING this regime has done...

THEY.DON'T.CARE.

So who is gonna "enforce" the courts anyway? Not like the UN or the rest of the planet is gonna come save us.

Getting out in the streets, general strike, it's gonna come to fucking revoluntioary war again... I wish I had the money to make my house a little more fortified and have some plants/food security... This is insanity

[Harker]

6. His answer is impertinent.

A Federal District Court and the Supreme Court are not "local."

[bdamomma]

7. Can

US Marshall's arrest him for not complying to the court's rulings?

[liberalgunwilltravel]

9. They could

But the DOJ is in charge of the US Marshals. It’s unlikely Blondie Bondi who allow that to happen. But any order he gives that dries the courts would be illegal and should be ignored. And if he continued to push, it wouldn’t surprise me if someone fragged his ass.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

8. You will either follow the court's orders

Or someone that actually honors their oath of office will remove your stinking asshole from its earthly bonds. Any order you give in defiance of the courts would be an illegal order to be ignored.