A federal judge on Thursday ordered an end to the monthslong National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., ruling the use of troops was “unlawful.”
The decision is the latest legal challenge to President Trump’s deployments of troops in U.S. cities to suppress protests, combat crime or protect federal buildings and personnel, including ICE agents. It follows a recent Tennessee state judge’s temporary block on Guard mobilization in Memphis — activated by the Tennessee governor at Trump’s request — and a Defense Department order over the weekend for hundreds of troops to leave Chicago and Portland as federal courts kept other deployments in flux.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, sided with D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who argued the president undermined the city’s autonomy, heightened tensions between residents and law enforcement, and harmed the local economy. “The Court finds that the District’s exercise of sovereign powers within its jurisdiction is irreparably harmed by Defendants’ actions in deploying the Guards,” Cobb wrote.
Cobb stayed her order until Dec. 11 to allow the Trump administration time to appeal.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump acted within his authority, calling the lawsuit “nothing more than another attempt — at the detriment of DC residents — to undermine the President’s highly successful operations to stop violent crime in DC.”
Trump ordered hundreds of troops to D.C. in early August without the mayor’s consent after declaring a “crime emergency” in the city — a claim local Democratic leaders have repeatedly disputed. Guard personnel have largely performed patrols and beautification tasks such as clearing trash, spreading mulch and pruning trees.
As of Wednesday, the deployment in the nation’s capital included more than 2,100 Guard members from D.C. and multiple states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama, according to the U.S. Army.