{"id":45272,"date":"2025-11-23T12:43:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T20:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45272"},"modified":"2025-11-23T12:43:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T20:43:03","slug":"contrary-to-law-judge-orders-halt-to-trumps-dc-military-takeover-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/11\/23\/contrary-to-law-judge-orders-halt-to-trumps-dc-military-takeover-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Contrary to Law\u2019: Judge Orders Halt to Trump\u2019s DC Military Takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-VP-CRIME\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Protesters demonstrate near members of the National Guard as they stand watch outside Union Station in Washington, DC, on August 20, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Saul Loeb\/AFP)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNormalizing the use of military troops for domestic law enforcement sets a dangerous precedent,\u201d said DC\u2019s attorney general. \u201cThis federal overreach is not normal or legal.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nov 20, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump\u2019s deployment of more than 2,000 National Guard troops to police Washington<\/a>, DC, is illegal and must come to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over objections from city officials, Trump ordered the troops to flood the nation\u2019s capital in August to deter what he claimed was an unstoppable crime wave, even though crime was falling<\/a> precipitously and was at a 30-year low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Federal District Judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden<\/a>, wrote<\/a> that the Trump administration<\/a> \u201cexceeded the bounds of their authority\u201d and \u201cacted contrary to law\u201d by deploying the National Guard \u201cfor nonmilitary, crime-deterrence missions in the absence of a request from the city\u2019s civil authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She wrote that while Trump is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Trump\u2019s legal authority to deploy troops around the country is subject to limits by Congress<\/a>, especially in DC, where it has the ultimate authority under the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She wrote that the court \u201crejects defendants\u2019 fly-by assertion of constitutional power, finding that such a broad reading of the president\u2019s Article II authority would erase Congress\u2019 role in governing the district and its National Guard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cobb also said that the Pentagon<\/a> lacked statutory authority to deploy more than 1,000 out-of-state National Guard members to DC. She wrote that \u201cthe district\u2019s exercise of sovereign powers within its jurisdiction is irreparably harmed by defendants\u2019 actions in deploying the guards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While finding the administration\u2019s actions illegal, Cobb said it will not be required to pull back troops immediately. She gave the administration until December 11 to file an appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is generally no public interest in the perpetuation of unlawful agency action,\u201d Cobb concluded. \u201cThere is a substantial public interest in having governmental agencies abide by the federal laws that govern their existence and operations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling follows a lawsuit in early September from the office of DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe court has ruled that the National Guard deployment to DC is illegal and granted a preliminary injunction,\u201d Schwalb said<\/a> after the ruling was handed down. \u201cAs we made clear from the start: The US military<\/a> should not police American citizens on American soil. This is a victory for DC, home rule, and American democracy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling comes amid legal battles over Trump\u2019s moves to deploy the National Guard in other US cities. The US Supreme Court<\/a> is expected to soon weigh in on his deployment in Chicago, even as some troops sent to Illinois are headed home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNormalizing the use of military troops for domestic law enforcement sets a dangerous precedent,\u201d Schwalb continued. \u201cNo president should be empowered to disregard states\u2019 independence and deploy troops anywhere\u2014with no check on their military power. This federal overreach is not normal or legal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Protesters demonstrate near members of the National Guard as they stand watch outside Union Station in Washington, DC, on August 20, 2025. \u00a0(Photo by Saul Loeb\/AFP) \u201cNormalizing the use of military troops for domestic law enforcement sets a dangerous precedent,\u201d said DC\u2019s attorney general. \u201cThis federal overreach is not normal… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45273,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45272\/revisions\/45273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}