Judge orders Trump administration to end
National Guard deployment in DC
[November 21, 2025]
By GARY FIELDS and LINDSAY WHITEHURST
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.
Cobb found that while the president does have authority to protect
federal functioning and property, he can't unilaterally deploy the D.C.
National Guard to help with crime control as he sees fit or call in
troops from other states.
After her ruling, Schwalb called for troops to be sent home.
“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 and whenever he wants — with no
check on his military power,” Schwalb said.
The White House, though, stood by the deployment.
“President Trump is well within his lawful authority to deploy the
National Guard in Washington, D.C., to protect federal assets and assist
law enforcement with specific tasks," said spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.
"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.”
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.
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The administration has also deployed Guard troops to Los Angeles and
tried to send troops into Chicago and Portland, Oregon, prompting
other court challenges. A federal appeals court allowed the Los
Angeles deployment, and the administration is appealing a judge’s
decision in Portland that found the president did not have the
authority to call up or deploy National Guard troops there.
The Supreme Court is weighing the administration’s emergency appeal
to be allowed to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area in
support of an immigration crackdown. A lower court has indefinitely
prevented the deployment.
In Washington, It’s unclear how long the deployments will last, but
attorneys from Schwalb’s office said Guard troops are likely to
remain in the city through at least next summer.
“Our constitutional democracy will never be the same if these
occupations are permitted to stand,” they wrote.
Government lawyers have said Congress empowered the president to
control the D.C. National Guard’s operation. “There is no sensible
reason for an injunction unwinding this arrangement now,
particularly since the District’s claims have no merit,” Justice
Department attorneys wrote.
The Trump administration has deputized the Guard troops in
Washington to serve as special U.S. Marshal Service deputies.
Schwalb’s office said out-of-state troops are impermissibly
operating as a federal military police force in D.C., inflaming
tensions with residents and diverting local police resources.
“Every day that this lawless incursion continues, the District
suffers harm to its sovereign authority to conduct local law
enforcement as it chooses,” his office’s attorneys wrote.
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