Illinois Sues Trump as Showdown Intensifies

President Trump's clash with the states and cities over the deployment of National Guard troops continues to intensify:

• Illinois sued the Trump administration on Monday in a bid to stop hundreds of troops out of Texas from being sent to Chicago, reports NBC News. The state's attorney general filed the suit, which accuses the president of violating the Constitution. Gov. JB Pritzker, meanwhile, has referred to Trump's "invasion" of Chicago.
• "The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president's favor," the lawsuit states. "The Trump administration's illegal actions already have subjected and are subjecting Illinois to serious and irreparable harm." (A weekend shooting ratcheted up the tension.)

• Also on Monday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he would issue an executive order establishing "ICE-free zones" in the city, a reference to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, per the New York Times. "We cannot allow them to rampage through our city with no checks or balances," Johnson said. "If Congress will not check this administration, then Chicago will."
• The legal fight follows similar developments in Oregon, where a federal judge twice blocked the Trump administration from sending National Guard troops from out of state to Portland. At the heart of the argument is the claim that federal intervention in local affairs, especially by military means, infringes upon the state's sovereignty as protected by the Tenth Amendment.
• Trump aide Stephen Miller blasted the most recent ruling out of Portland, calling it "one of the most egregious and thunderous violations of constitutional order we have ever seen—and is yet the latest example of unceasing efforts to nullify the 2024 election by fiat," per the Hill.