Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deployment

National Guard troops in Washington, D.C.

(Image credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

A federal judge Thursday ordered President Donald Trump to pause his “unlawful” National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., ruling that he and his administration had “exceeded the bounds of their statutory authority” and “infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself.” U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb said Trump must pull all D.C. National Guard troops and those called in from other states, but she delayed implementation of her ruling for three weeks to allow time for a government appeal.

Who said what

The ruling is “not a final decision,” but it’s a “significant legal win for D.C. in a case that could end up setting guardrails” on Trump’s use of the Guard to “impose his will on the city,” The Washington Post said. Trump deployed the Guard in August to aid law enforcement with crime and immigration arrests, and the more than 2,000 troops who remain are “often seen milling at Metro stations, picking up trash at national parks or strolling along busy nightlife corridors.”

“The U.S. military should not be policing American citizens on American soil,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who filed the suit, said in a statement. “It is long past time to let the National Guard go home — to their everyday lives, their regular jobs, their families.” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump was acting “within his lawful authority.”

What next?

“Trial courts have ruled against the troop deployments in every city where local leaders protested their presence,” Reuters said, but an appellate court allowed the troops to stay in Los Angeles and the administration has appealed injunctions in Portland and Chicago.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.