A federal judge sided with local Washington, D.C., officials by ruling that the Trump administration‘s deployment of the National Guard to the district is unlawful, marking the latest legal setback for the president’s use of troops domestically.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, blocked the deployment of the National Guard to Washington for purposes of combating crime, but paused the effect of her ruling until Dec. 11 to allow for an appeal. Cobb found that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority to deploy the D.C. National Guard under federal law.
“The Court finds that the President has no free-floating Article II power to deploy the [D.C. National Guard] for the deterrence of crime. Historical practice confirms this understanding of the President’s authority,” Cobb wrote in her ruling.
Cobb also found that the use of out-of-state National Guard troops to support the district’s troops likely exceeded the Trump administration’s lawful authority. Despite ruling against the Trump administration, Cobb granted a three-week pause of her order to allow for appeal and “avoid disruptive consequences to the public.”
Local officials filed the lawsuit against the Trump administration in September, alleging it violated various federal laws, including the Home Rule Act, which gives the district some local governing power. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb celebrated the ruling as a “victory for DC, Home Rule, and American democracy.”
“Normalizing the use of military troops for domestic law enforcement sets a dangerous precedent. No President should be empowered to disregard states’ independence and deploy troops anywhere — with no check on their military power. This federal overreach is not normal or legal,” Schwalb said.
Trump has deployed the National Guard in three states to protect federal assets and officers amid unrest during protests over federal immigration operations. However, the Washington deployment has been focused on combating crime. All four deployments have faced lawsuits from officials in the three states and Washington.
Unlike the National Guard troops in the 50 states, which report to their respective governors, the D.C. National Guard reports to the president rather than the mayor of Washington. This key distinction means the president does not have to call members of the D.C. National Guard into federal service to deploy them in the district, which means that the Washington deployment was conducted under different laws than those governing the deployment of state forces.
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With the lawsuits in California, Oregon, and Illinois, only the deployment in Los Angeles has been able to proceed for now. The Trump administration’s bids to send troops to Portland and Chicago have faced court orders blocking the deployments, with the Chicago case making its way to the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Trump administration’s attempt to deploy troops to Chicago within the coming weeks.