Judge rules Trump’s deployment of National Guard in D.C. was illegal

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration broke the law in deploying the National Guard to patrol the streets of Washington without the city’s approval.

Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee, stayed her ruling for three weeks to give President Trump a chance to mount an appeal.

She said Mr. Trump has limited powers to call up the Guard and that using it for police duty goes beyond what the law allows.

And she said the Defense Department didn’t have the power to call other states’ guardsmen in to help, either.

“The record in this case, including many of the amicus briefs filed, makes clear that there are strong views on both sides about whether these deployments represent good policy. But the court is only tasked with deciding whether defendants’ actions are lawful,” Judge Cobb wrote.

“The court finds that the District’s exercise of sovereign powers within its jurisdiction is irreparably harmed by defendants’ actions in deploying the Guards, and that the balance of equities and public interest weigh in the District’s favor,” she said.

The White House said Mr. Trump remains committed to his plans.

“President Trump is well within his lawful authority to deploy the National Guard in Washington, D.C., to protect federal assets and assist law enforcement with specific tasks,” said spokeswoman Abigail Jackson. “This lawsuit is nothing more than another attempt — at the detriment of D.C. residents — to undermine the president’s highly successful operations to stop violent crime in D.C.”

But Brian Schwalb, the District’s attorney general who brought the lawsuit, called the troops an “involuntary military occupation” and said the decision was a victory for D.C. home rule.

“Normalizing the use of military troops for domestic law enforcement sets a dangerous precedent,” he said. “No president should be empowered to disregard states’ independence and deploy troops anywhere — with no check on their military power.”

The deployment began in August, and the Trump administration has credited a drop in D.C.’s crime to the troops’ presence.

More than 2,000 guardsmen are deployed, including more than 1,000 from states outside the District.

Those states are South Carolina, West Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and South Dakota, with Indiana scheduled to send 300 guardsmen next month.

Under the current orders, they were to remain in the city at least through February.

Mr. Trump had said both the law and his inherent presidential powers justified the call-up.

Judge Cobb rejected those in turn.

She said since the Constitution gives control of the District to Congress, Mr. Trump’s Article II commander-in-chief powers don’t apply.

And she said the law governing the president’s power over the city’s troops extends only to drills, inspections other ceremonial duties and instances when the city’s “civil authorities” request it.

That does not include asking them to assist local law enforcement.

“The court finds no authority in Title 49 of the D.C. code that supports the president’s ability to call out the DCNG to patrol the District under these circumstances,” Judge Cobb ruled.

Mr. Trump’s penchant for using troops to accomplish his aims has long been apparent.

This year, he has deployed both Guard and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles and has tried to call up the Guard to send to the Chicago area and Portland, Oregon.

Federal courts have put both of those on hold.

The Supreme Court is considering the Chicago deployment, and that ruling will likely guide the other cases.

Any appeal of Judge Cobb’s ruling would go first to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, where Democratic appointees have more seats than Republican appointees.

An appeal of that court’s decision would then leap to the Supreme Court.

Given the certainty of higher court action, Judge Cobb put her ruling on hold for 21 days “to prevent potential disruption to the functioning of the District and the National Guard during the appeals process.”

In the District, the troops have been patrolling the National Mall, have made rounds of the subway system’s stations, and over the summer helped provide security for federal law enforcement agents who surged into the city at Mr. Trump’s behest.

They also have taken over patrols in some parks, freeing up police to patrol other areas.

Both sides agree that their mission has been to deter crime, but disputed the extent to which they have performed actual policing duties.

Judge Cobb said she has yet to decide that issue, but will if the case demands it in the future.

The deployment coincided with a notable drop in crime reports among some major categories of offenses.

“We’ve got no crime,” Mr. Trump told reporters in early October.

Mayor Muriel Bowser has countered that the gains were already underway and were due to the city’s own police force and federal agents.