A federal judge on Thursday issued an order halting the ongoing National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., which had been in place for several months to address crime in the city. The judge described the deployment of troops as “unlawful,” marking the latest legal challenge to President Trump’s use of National Guard forces in American cities. These deployments have been positioned by the administration as measures to suppress protests, combat crime, or protect federal buildings and personnel, including ICE agents, but they have increasingly faced resistance in courts.
This ruling follows closely on the heels of a similar action in Tennessee, where a state judge temporarily blocked the mobilization of Guard forces in Memphis. That deployment had been initiated by the Tennessee governor at the request of President Trump. Over the preceding weekend, the Defense Department had ordered hundreds of troops to depart from Chicago and Portland, Oregon, as federal courts remained deadlocked over the legality of those deployments.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, sided with District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who argued that the president’s actions undermined the city’s autonomy, threatened public safety by escalating tensions between local residents and law enforcement, and harmed the local economy. “The Court finds that the District’s exercise of sovereign powers within its jurisdiction is irreparably harmed by Defendants’ actions in deploying the Guards,” Cobb wrote in her decision.
Judge Cobb’s order will not take full effect immediately, as she paused the ruling until Dec. 11 to allow the Trump administration time to appeal. The White House responded through spokesperson Abigail Jackson, who defended the president’s authority to deploy the Guard in D.C. “This lawsuit is 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,” Jackson said.
The deployment began in early August, when Trump sent hundreds of troops to D.C. without the consent of the city’s mayor after declaring a “crime emergency” in the capital. Local Democratic leaders have repeatedly disputed this claim. Since the start of the deployment, the National Guard has mostly performed patrol duties and participated in beautification projects, including clearing trash, spreading mulch, and pruning trees. According to the U.S. Army, the deployment currently includes over 2,100 Guard members from D.C. as well as multiple states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama.
National Guard Deployment Faces Legal Limits
The ruling underscores the ongoing legal scrutiny over the use of the National Guard in cities without local consent. While the Trump administration maintains that its actions fall within presidential authority, federal judges continue to examine whether such deployments interfere with local governance, public safety, and city resources. The temporary pause provides time for appeals, but the decision highlights the tension between federal and local control over National Guard operations.
