A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday ruled that the National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C. is allowed to continue for now, staying a lower court ruling that had ordered an end to it.
The three-judge panel for U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that Trump may prevail in his argument that in D.C., a federal district, the president “possesses a unique power” to mobilize the Guard. The ruling stops the implementation of U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb’s Nov. 20 opinion and order. Cobb had ruled that the deployment illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the district.
The unanimous 32-page ruling went on to say that other factors also favored the Trump administration, including the “disruption to the lives of thousands of service members,” as well as what it said was the president's interest "in the protection of federal governmental functions and property within the Nation’s capital.”
The judges found that the District “has not identified any ongoing injury to its statutory interests.”
Wednesday's ruling is not final, but it acknowledged that the Trump administration has a strong case for its appeal based on the factors the court examined.
