Federal Judge Permanently Blocks Trump From Deploying National Guard T

Leo Migdal

-Nov 18, 2025, 12:28 AM

federal judge permanently blocks trump from deploying national guard t

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb concluded that President Donald Trump’s military takeover in Washington, D.C., illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the district. WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to end its monthslong deployment of National Guard troops to help police the nation’s capital. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb concluded that President Donald Trump’s military takeover in Washington, D.C., illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the district. She put her order on hold for 21 days to allow for an appeal, however.

District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued to challenge the Guard deployments. He asked the judge to bar the White House from deploying Guard troops without the mayor’s consent while the lawsuit plays out. Dozens of states took sides in Schwalb’s lawsuit, with their support falling along party lines. Updated on: November 20, 2025 / 6:12 PM EST / CBS News A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Trump's months-long deployment of thousands of National Guard forces to the streets of Washington, D.C., violates federal law. U.S.

District Judge Jia Cobb sided with D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who sued the federal government over the Guard deployment, arguing it exceeded the president's legal authority. But the judge stayed her ruling for 21 days to give the Trump administration a chance to appeal it. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson blasted the ruling, arguing that Mr. Trump has the authority to deploy Guard troops in the nation's capital. Jackson called Schwalb's lawsuit "nothing more than another attempt — at the detriment of DC residents — to undermine the President's highly successful operations to stop violent crime in DC."

In his own statement following the ruling, Schwalb said, "Normalizing the use of military troops for domestic law enforcement sets a dangerous precedent, where the President can disregard states' independence and deploy troops wherever... This unprecedented federal overreach is not normal, or legal. It is long past time to let the National Guard go home – to their everyday lives, their regular jobs, their families, and their children." WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to end its monthslong deployment of National Guard troops to help police the nation’s capital. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb concluded that President Donald Trump’s military takeover in Washington, D.C., violates the Constitution and illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the district.

She put her order on hold for 21 days to allow for an appeal, however. District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued to challenge the Guard deployments. He asked the judge to enjoin the White House from deploying Guard troops without the mayor’s consent. READ MORE: Hundreds of National Guard troops deployed to Portland and Chicago being sent home In August, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington. Within a month, more than 2,300 National Guard troops from eight states and the district were patrolling the city under the command of the Secretary of the Army.

Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist in patrols. President Donald Trump was permanently blocked from sending the National Guard to Portland by U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, who delivered her final order in the case Friday. The case has centered around whether ongoing protests outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in the city warrant a National Guard deployment. In her ruling, she acknowledged “violent protests did occur,” but law enforcement was able to address them.

“Since that brief span of a few days in June, the protests outside the Portland ICE facility have been predominately peaceful, with only isolated and sporadic instances of relatively low-level violence, largely between protesters... The permanent injunction went into effect immediately. The decision is a setback in the Trump administration’s effort to send National Guard members to the city, and marks the fourth time the judge has blocked the deployment. The judge issued an order last month temporarily blocking the deployment. A federal judge ruled on Friday that Donald Trump "exceeded the President's authority" when he sent federalized National Guard troops into Portland. In a 106-decision, Trump-appointed U.S.

District Judge Karin Immergut made permanent an order she issued last month blocking the deployment into the city. "The evidence demonstrates that these deployments, which were objected to by Oregon's governor and not requested by the federal officials in charge of protection of the ICE building, exceeded the president's authority," the judge... After a three-day trial, Immergut rejected the Trump administration's argument that immigration-related protests amounted to rebellion or danger of a rebellion -- the standard needed to justify a federal takeover of the National Guard. Members of the Ohio National Guard patrol 14th Street in Washington on Aug. 23. A federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Washington was likely unlawful in the latest setback to the president’s military mobilizations in Democrat-led cities.

US District Judge Jia Cobb said in a Thursday decision that the deployment of troops irreparably harmed the city’s “exercise of sovereign powers.” But she gave the federal government 21 days to appeal before... President Donald Trump and the Defense Department illegally deployed the National Guard in Washington, DC, a federal judge ruled Thursday. Washington, DC’s Attorney General’s office had sued the Trump administration in early September over the National Guard’s deployment in the city, which came as Trump surged federal law enforcement in the capital. The administration “exceeded the bounds of their authority” in how they deployed National Guard troops in the city, and “acted contrary to law” when they deployed the DC National Guard “for non-military, crime-deterrence missions... Cobb, however, did delayed her order that would require the National Guard to leave the district, allowing the Trump administration 21 days to file an appeal. Additionally, Cobb found that the Trump administration also “lack statutory authority” in bringing out-of-state National Guard members.

Members of the National Guard stand by an escalator at the Farragut North Metro station in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 13. Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption A federal judge on Thursday ordered an end to the monthslong National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. to tackle crime, declaring that the use of troops was "unlawful."

It's the latest legal resistance against President Trump's troop deployments in American cities as a means to suppress protests, combat crime or safeguard federal buildings and personnel, including ICE agents. It comes just days after a Tennessee state judge issued a temporary block on the mobilization of Guard forces in Memphis, which was activated by the Tennessee governor at Trump's behest. Over the weekend, the Defense Department ordered hundreds of troops to leave Chicago and Portland, Ore. as federal courts kept those deployments at a stalemate. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, sided with District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb who had argued that the president undermined the city's autonomy, threatened public safety...

Federal Judge Permanently Blocks Trump From Deploying National Guard T

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