A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to stop its National Guard deployment in Washington, DC, for now, ruling that the administration overstepped its legal authority by requesting National Guard assistance from other states. US District Judge Jia M. Cobb wrote that the use of troops has caused the District "irreparable harm to its sovereign powers under the Home Rule Act, which are being usurped by Defendants' unlawful actions." But the order is a preliminary injunction and does not require the immediate withdrawal of troops, the Washington Post reports. Instead, the judge paused the order for 21 days to allow a higher court to consider an appeal from the Trump administration.
The decision represents a legal victory for DC officials, whose lawsuit argues that the deployment is an overreach and a threat to the city's autonomy. "From the beginning, we made clear that the US military should not be policing American citizens on American soil," DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a statement Thursday. "It is long past time to let the National Guard go home—to their everyday lives, their regular jobs, their families, and their children." President Trump deployed the DC National Guard in August as part of a broader effort to address crime in the city, which included declaring an emergency, taking control of the DC police department, and bringing in federal agents.
Cobb found that the president lacks the power to dispatch troops "for the deterrence of crime," per Politico—especially in the District, which is under the control of Congress. The deployment grew to about 2,500 troops after Trump requested additional support from other states. A Trump spokeswoman told the Post in an email Thursday that the District's lawsuit is an attempt "to undermine the President's highly successful operations to stop violent crime in DC."
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