A federal judge ruled on President Trump on Friday called illegally And planned to deploy the Oregon National Guard to Portland, the most decisive blow yet to his effort to send troops to Democratic-led cities where protests have centered on federal immigration facilities.
Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut permanently blocked the president from sending Oregon troops into the city after determining that the president violated federal law and stepped on state sovereignty in his effort to send troops onto the streets of Portland.
This is the first time a judge has ruled on Trump’s underlying legal merits. offensive use On the National Guard side, challenges to their efforts continue to move through the courts in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, DC.
“To be clear, this Court does not rule today that the President may never deploy the National Guard to Oregon or any other location if circumstances on the ground justify Guard intervention,” Immergut wrote. “But under the U.S. Constitution, Congress has the power to call out the National Guard ‘to execute the laws of the Union, to suppress insurrection, and to prevent invasions,’ and Congress’s delegation of power to the President is by statute.
He said, “Until the President legally unionizes National Guardsmen…’members of the National Guard serve solely as members of the state militia, under the command of the state’s governor.'”
This decision comes after a three day testThat included testimony from local and federal law enforcement about the nature of the protests at the center of the case – which often remained tense.
Trump called out Oregon’s National Guard in September and promised to protect “war-ravaged” Portland and its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. State and city officials immediately filed suit to stop his efforts.
The President initially sided with the Confederacy and moved to deploy 200 Oregon troops, but after Immergut temporarily blocked the effort, he sought to send troops from California and Texas to the city, preventing Judge from deploying any troops. The administration has appealed.
In the lawsuit, Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers argued that Trump legally federalized the National Guard under a provision of Title 10, which lists three circumstances where the President can do so: an invasion, an insurrection or the inability to execute the law with regular forces.
He claimed that the protests outside Portland’s ICE facility thwarted the ability of federal officials to do their jobs without help and amounted to insurrection against the government, while maintaining that courts should not review Trump’s determination.
“In Section 12406, Congress made those decisions for the President,” DOJ attorney Eric Hamilton said, referring to the provision.
Two Federal Security Service observers testified anonymously that the National Guard would de-escalate tensions, although they acknowledged that no one requested military assistance.
In addition to the testimony of Maj. Gen. Timothy Rieger, acting deputy chief of the National Guard Bureau, Immergut cited in his decision the testimony of Major General Timothy Rieger, who said he had no personal knowledge of the situation on the ground in Portland when he issued the memo proposing troop assistance.
Portland police presented a different picture of the scene on the ground in testimony.
He said the largely peaceful protests had already been instigated by some federal officers present at the site and pointed toRiots that devastated the city in 2020To give an example of how poor policing can incite a mob.
Authorities also used the 2020 demonstrations — which began as peaceful demonstrations following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis but turned into 200 days of sustained protests and sometimes violent clashes — to undermine the administration’s argument that the city is now under siege.
“This was a completely different type of disorder,” said Commander of the Portland Police Bureau. franz schöningsaid about the protestsfive years ago.
Three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit stopped one Immergut’s ruling last month, but the appeals court vacated that ruling and said the full court would hear the case again.
Trump’s efforts to deploy the National Guard in major cities have met with varying success.
Troops are on the ground in California and DC, but courts have so far blocked deployment to Illinois — though the situation could change quickly.
Supreme Court isWeight of an emergency applicationAsk the administration to allow the National Guard to be deployed to the Chicago area, but have not yet ruled.
The judge temporarily blocked a portion of his final ruling for 14 days so Trump can retain control of Oregon’s National Guard but cannot deploy any troops, per the administration’s appeal.
