The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to let it deploy the National Guard to the Chicago area amid President Trump’s push to send military troops into Democratic-led cities.
The Justice Department filed an emergency application at the high court Friday asking the justices to pause a judge’s order blocking Trump from sending hundreds of National Guard members into Illinois.
“This Court should stay the district court’s October 9 injunction in its entirety,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the administration’s request to the justices. “The injunction improperly impinges on the President’s authority and needlessly endangers federal personnel and property.”
It marks the first time the justices have been asked to wade into Trump’s aggressive use of the National Guard on U.S. soil.
Sauer argued that the case presents a “disturbing and recurring pattern” in which federal officers seeking to enforce immigration law have been met with “prolonged, coordinated, violent resistance.”
He said that leads to Trump calling in the National Guard and local leaders suing the federal government.
“The district court then issues an opinion granting injunctive relief against the President’s action that downplays or denies the ongoing threat to the lives and safety of federal agents, substitutes the court’s own judgment for the President’s about the need for military augmentation, and gives little or no weight to the United States’ interest in enforcing federal immigration law,” Sauer wrote, contending that the pattern first began in Los Angeles — the first city where the National Guard was sent.
Local leaders have emphatically rejected the administration’s portrayal of the scene on the ground in cities where Trump has sought to send troops, writing in court papers that protests have been small and largely peaceful. In addition to Chicago and Los Angeles, the National Guard has also been sent to Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C.
The high court asked Illinois and Chicago officials to respond to the administration’s arguments by Monday evening.
The administration’s appeal comes a day after a federal appeals court rejected Trump’s request to let him send troops into Illinois.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit allowed the president to maintain control of the National Guard but determined there was “insufficient evidence” of rebellion or Trump’s inability to execute the law without sending in the troops.
The judges concluded that the facts on the ground in the state “do not justify” Trump’s actions there, even after giving “substantial deference” to his assertions.
Before U.S. District Judge April Perry blocked Trump’s federalization and deployment of the National Guard in Illinois last week, about 300 members of the state’s National Guard were sent to the Chicago area alongside 200 troops from Texas, according to the military unit commanding them. They were activated for 60 days.
The U.S. Northern Command said in a statement posted after the decision that the soldiers in Chicago are “not conducting any operational activities at this time.”
The portion of Perry’s ruling blocking Trump’s control of the troops is temporarily paused until the administration’s appeal is resolved.
Illinois and Chicago officials sued over the National Guard takeover earlier this month. Gov. JB Pritzker (D) has called Trump’s efforts an “unconstitutional invasion of Illinois by the federal government.”
Attorney General Kwame Raoul told The Hill in a statement that his office “remains steadfast” in its commitment to upholding the rule of law and will “vigorously” oppose the Trump administration’s efforts to undo the lower court’s decisions.
“As the district court and 7th Circuit Court of Appeals have affirmed, there is no need or lawful basis for troops to be deployed in the state of Illinois,” Raoul said.
Updated at 5:39 p.m. EDT
Source: The Hill
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