National Guard troops can remain in Washington, D.C., for now, after a federal court of appeals overruled a lower court’s order in favor of the Trump administration.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously on Wednesday to grant a stay on the matter pending appeal.
President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard deployment back in August to crack down on crime and clean up popular tourist areas in the nation’s capital.
Trump also deployed or attempted to deploy Guard troops to other U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, to restore order and protect federal buildings amid violent rioters protesting immigration enforcement efforts.
Despite reports that crime is down and residents feel safer in the District of Columbia, DC officials filed a lawsuit on Sept. 4 to halt the ongoing deployment of National Guard troops in the district.
On Nov. 20, U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb granted the district a preliminary injunction and a Section 705 stay, ordering the deployment to end, according to court documents.
The three-judge appellate panel overruled Cobb’s opinion, writing that President Donald Trump may prevail in his argument because the District of Columbia is a federal district created by Congress, rather than a sovereign state.
“The Defendants appear on this early record likely to prevail on the merits of their argument that the President possesses a unique power within the District—the seat of the federal government—to mobilize the Guard under 32 U.S.C. § 502(f),” the panel wrote. “It also appears likely that the D.C. Code independently authorizes the deployment of the D.C. Guard.”
The judges found that the district “has not identified any ongoing injury to its statutory interests.”
In her Nov. 20 ruling, Cobb concluded that the deployment illegally intruded on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the District of Columbia, Just The News reported.
Cobb put her order on hold for 21 days to allow for an appeal, but she called for the troops to be sent home after her ruling.
The same appeals court issued an administrative stay of Cobb’s ruling on Dec. 4, which temporarily paused Cobb’s Nov. 20 opinion and order to give the court time to review the matter.
Around the same time, six Democratic lawmakers released an unusual video telling members of the military they did not have to obey illegal orders without specifying the illegal orders.
Just days after that ruling, an Afghan national opened fire in a targeted attack on two Guard members a few blocks from the White House.
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, was allowed into the country under Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome. He fatally wounded U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and critically injured U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe.
District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed the lawsuit challenging the Guard deployments. As is common with these cases, Schwalb asked the judge to halt the deployment without the mayor’s consent while the lawsuit plays out, the Associated Press reported.
A spokesperson for Schwalb’s office said the appeals court’s stay was a “preliminary ruling that does not resolve the merits. We look forward to continuing our case in both the district and appellate courts.”
The 32-page appeals court ruling mentioned other factors also favored the Republican administration, including the “disruption to the lives of thousands of service members,” as well as what it said was the president’s interest “in the protection of federal governmental functions and property within the Nation’s capital.”
December has been a busy month for immigration-related legal battles as other high-profile cases head to court. The trial for Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan got underway Monday, Dec. 15, at the federal courthouse in Milwaukee with live updates from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Dugan is accused of helping a now-deported illegal immigrant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, evade arrest on April 18 at the Milwaukee County Courthouse. Federal prosecutors brought obstruction charges against Dugan for allegedly interfering in the immigration arrest of Flores-Ruiz, who was scheduled to appear for a pre-trail hearing on domestic violences charges.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by California officials to end the Guard deployment in Los Angeles, CalMatters reported.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ordered federalized National Guard troops to leave Los Angeles by noon on Monday, Dec. 15, and return to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s control, the Los Angeles Times reported.
About 300 California troops remained under federal control, some 100 of whom were still active in Los Angeles as of last week, court records show.
The LA Times and other outlets reported that Guard members were seen leaving a federal building in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday ahead of the order. Trump sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles after anti-ICE rioters created chaos across the city in June.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson suggested that the administration would appeal the ruling in a statement to the Associated Press, adding that they expected “ultimate victory on the issue.”
However, several legal battles over the president’s authority to use the National Guard remain pending in appellate courts.
Sanctuary politicians across the country have turned to the courts to derail Trump’s mas deportation agenda. Other liberal cities, including Chicago and Portland, have also filed lawsuits challenging Trump’s deployment of the National Guard.
The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing a case on Trump’s call-up of troops to Chicago, which could further determine whether the domestic mobilizations are constitutional, CalMatters reported.
