In a decisive move that halted President Donald Trump’s attempt to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, the Supreme Court denied an emergency request, marking a rare setback for the administration.
The Court’s Decision
The high court refused the Republican administration’s emergency request to overturn a ruling by U.S. District Judge April Perry that had blocked the deployment of troops. An appeals court had also declined to intervene, and the Supreme Court took more than two months to act. The order is not a final ruling, but it could influence other lawsuits challenging President Trump’s efforts to send the military to Democratic-led cities.
Reactions from the Court
The majority opinion noted, “At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed with the decision to keep the Chicago deployment blocked, though he said he would have left the president more latitude for future scenarios. Three justices-Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch-publicly dissented. Alito and Thomas argued the court had no basis to reject Trump’s claim that troops were needed to enforce immigration laws, while Gorsuch said he would have narrowly sided with the government based on declarations of federal law-enforcement officials.
Implications for Trump’s Military Deployments
The ruling is a rare Supreme Court defeat for Trump, who has secured repeated victories in emergency appeals since taking office again in January. The conservative-dominated court has previously allowed Trump to ban transgender people from the military, claw back billions of dollars of congressionally approved federal spending, move aggressively against immigrants, and fire the Senate-confirmed leaders of independent federal agencies.
State and Local Responses
Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker applauded Tuesday’s decision as a win for the state and country. “American cities, suburbs, and communities should not have to faced masked federal agents asking for their papers, judging them for how they look or sound, and living in fear that the President can deploy the military to their streets,” he said.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson countered that the president had activated the National Guard to protect federal personnel and property from “violent rioters.” “Nothing in today’s ruling detracts from that core agenda. The Administration will continue working day in and day out to safeguard the American public,” she said.
The Chicago Deployment and Protests
The administration had initially sought the order to allow the deployment of troops from Illinois and Texas, but the Texas contingent of about 200 National Guard troops was later sent home from Chicago. Trump’s administration argued the troops were needed “to protect federal personnel and property from violent resistance against the enforcement of federal immigration laws.” Judge Perry found no substantial evidence of a “danger of rebellion” brewing in Illinois and no reason to believe protests had impeded the administration’s immigration crackdown. She blocked the deployment for two weeks and, in October, extended the order indefinitely while the Supreme Court reviewed the case.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the west Chicago suburb of Broadview has been the site of tense protests, where federal agents have previously used tear gas and other chemical agents on protesters and journalists. Last month, authorities arrested 21 protesters and said four officers were injured outside the Broadview facility. Local authorities made the arrests.
Other Legal Battles Over Guard Deployments
The Illinois case is just one of several legal battles over National Guard deployments. District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb is suing to halt the deployments of more than 2,000 guardsmen in the nation’s capital. Forty-five states have filed in federal court in that case, with 23 supporting the administration’s actions and 22 supporting the attorney general’s lawsuit. More than 2,200 troops from several Republican-led states remain in Washington, although the crime emergency Trump declared in August ended a month later.
A federal judge in Oregon permanently blocked the deployment of National Guard troops there, and all 200 troops from California were being sent home from Oregon, an official said. A state court in Tennessee ruled in favor of Democratic officials who sued to stop the ongoing Guard deployment in Memphis, which Trump has called a replica of his crackdown on Washington, D.C. In California, a judge in September said deployment in the Los Angeles area was illegal. By that point, just 300 of the thousands of troops sent there remained, and the judge did not order them to leave.
The Trump administration has appealed the California and Oregon rulings to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Key Takeaways
- The Supreme Court blocked Trump’s emergency request to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, a rare setback for the president.
- Three justices dissented, but the majority opinion highlighted a lack of authority for the military to enforce laws in Illinois.
- The ruling could influence other lawsuits challenging the administration’s deployment of troops in Democratic-led cities.
The decision underscores the growing legal challenges to President Trump’s use of the National Guard in domestic immigration enforcement, and it signals that the Supreme Court may be more willing to scrutinize executive actions that involve the military.
