Federal Judge Declares Trump’s DC National Guard Deployment Illegal

Judge Cobb, a Biden appointee, issued the injunction on Thursday, explicitly rejecting the administration's claims of broad constitutional power. The court found that the deployment, initiated in August under the guise of curbing a crime wave that was actually at a 30-year low, ignored statutory limits on presidential military authority. Cobb noted that the executive branch cannot unilaterally override Congress’s role in governing the District of Columbia or its local National Guard.

While the court declared the presence of the troops unlawful, the administration was granted until December 11 to appeal before any immediate withdrawal is required. The ruling stems from a September lawsuit filed by D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who hailed the decision as a critical defense of home rule. Schwalb argued that normalizing the use of the military for domestic law enforcement creates a dangerous precedent that threatens the separation of powers. This decision arrives as the administration faces similar legal challenges regarding troop deployments in other U.S. cities, with the Supreme Court expected to weigh in on the constitutionality of these actions soon.