A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump’s months-long deployment of thousands of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., violates federal law.
U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb granted summary judgment to D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who had argued the operation exceeded the president’s authority. Cobb ruled that Trump did not have the authority to deploy the D.C. National Guard on “non-military, crime-deterrence missions” in the absence of a request by city leaders. She stayed her ruling for 21 days to give the administration time to appeal.
The White House blasted the decision. Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the deployment is a lawful effort to combat violent crime and called Schwalb’s lawsuit “nothing more than another attempt — at the detriment of D.C. residents — to undermine the President’s highly successful operations to stop violent crime in D.C.,” CBS News reported.
Schwalb responded by saying, “Normalizing the use of military troops for domestic law enforcement sets a dangerous precedent,” warning it would allow presidents to send troops “wherever and whenever” they want, without meaningful checks. He said it is “long past time” for Guard members to return to their civilian lives.
Trump first deployed Guard forces to the capital this August as part of a broader crime crackdown that also pulled in federal agents and temporarily put local D.C. police under federal direction. The deployment, repeatedly extended, is currently set to run until at least February 2026, according to CBS News.
Cobb also rejected the administration’s reliance on local D.C. statutes, adding that there is no legal basis for out-of-state Guard units operating in the city without supporting state law, undercutting the multi-state deployment even further.
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