Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed a federal complaint to stop the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Illinois for federal law-enforcement operations, said the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
Raoul’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, sues President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Department of Defense, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security, Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, and the U.S. Army. The complaint asks for a temporary restraining order to prevent any deployment of Illinois Guard members for federal policing.
The lawsuit argues the administration acted beyond its legal authority under 10 U.S.C. § 12406, which limits federalization of state National Guard members to narrow circumstances such as invasion, insurrection, or when federal law cannot be enforced by the federal government. Raoul believes none of those scenarios exist in Illinois and federal courts are still an option and federal law can be enforced short of relying on the military, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office explains.
“American citizens, wherever they may be, should not have to fear occupation by the U.S. military, particularly for the reason that their city or state government is out of favor with a president,” Raoul stated, as quoted by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
The federalization lawsuit also references the prohibitions against military participation in civilian law enforcement and state police protection under state laws such as the 10th Amendment of the Posse Comitatus Act. The federalization lawsuit threatens that it could stoke instability, undermine trust in the police, and discourage business and tourism, harming the state’s economy.
Chicago joined the complaint. “This is a nation of constitutional law, not martial law,” Corporation Counsel Mary B. Richardson-Lowry stated, according to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
Raoul’s action comes on the heels of an Oregon court halting a move to federalize the Oregon Guard, which emphasized constitutional limits and criticized the administration’s justification as fact-irrelevant, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office stated.
A hearing date on Illinois’ motion for temporary restraining order has yet to be set.
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