Supreme Court May Rule on Guard Deployments

Federal judges in Washington, D.C., Portland and Oregon’s federal court heard challenges on Oct. 24 over President Trump’s deployment and federalization of National Guard troops to U.S. cities, including about 2,500 troops sent to the capital and proposed deployments to Portland. Local and state governments say the president lacks authority to federalize Guard units and accuse federal officials of using them as a “federally run police force” or deploying them on exaggerated grounds of crime and unrest. The Justice Department argues the president has exclusive discretion to deploy forces to defend federal personnel, property and functions and has asked judges to lift restraining orders. In Portland, Judge Karin Immergut issued two temporary restraining orders blocking federalization and deployment; a divided Ninth Circuit panel briefly stayed one order and the full court may rehear the case en banc, leaving some Guard units staged but not sent into the city. The Supreme Court is now poised to rule for the first time on the scope of presidential power to deploy troops in American cities, in a decision that could broadly expand or constrain executive authority over domestic military deployments.