The judge held that the deployment was unconstitutional but paused her order for three weeks to allow the government to appeal.
A federal judge on Nov. 20 ordered the Trump administration to end its deployment of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital.
Trump had said the troops were needed to deal with rampant crime and violence in Washington and support federal immigration law enforcement efforts there.
On Aug. 11, the president signed a presidential memorandum, in which he said the local D.C. government “has lost control of public order and safety in the city.”
“It is a point of national disgrace that Washington, D.C., has a violent crime rate that is higher than some of the most dangerous places in the world,” the document states.
Although the federal Posse Comitatus Act restricts the ability of the federal government to use military resources for domestic law enforcement, a president may take over, or federalize, state National Guard troops on an emergency basis in certain circumstances.
However, the D.C. National Guard is in a unique position because the District of Columbia is a federal enclave and not a state. The president is the commander-in-chief of the D.C. National Guard.
The new order by U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb came after she heard oral arguments on Oct. 24 on the District of Columbia government’s federal lawsuit that was filed Sept. 4.
Cobb held that President Donald Trump’s takeover of the D.C. National Guard runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution and unlawfully interferes with local officials’ authority to control law enforcement in the District of Columbia.
The judge said the president only has authority to call up the National Guard “through the exercise of a specific power outlined in state law,” and not for “whatever reason” he sees fit.
Cobb paused enforcement of her new order to allow the federal government to appeal.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
