A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Trump illegally federalized the California National Guard in response to the Los Angeles protests and ordered that the force be returned to the control of Democratic Gov.

Hours after a federal judge ordered President Donald Trump to return control of the California National Guard to Gov. Gavin Newsom, a federal appeals court Thursday evening granted Trump’s emergency motion to stay the ruling — hitting pause on a decision that would have taken effect at noon Friday.

Gavin Newsom asked the Trump administration on Sunday to rescind its move to deploy 2,000 California National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to subdue immigration protests, accusing the White House of illegally overriding his authority and intentionally inflaming tensions with protesters.