WASHINGTON — 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.
However, she put her order on hold for 21 days to allow for an appeal.
National Guard soldiers patrol at Union Station, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
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.
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," he 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," spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. "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, 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 patrolled the city under the command of the Secretary of the Army. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist in patrols.
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 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.
Trump's National Guard deployments led to other court challenges, including in Portland, Chicago and Los Angeles. 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 the immigration crackdown. A lower court indefinitely prevented the deployment.
In Washington, the Trump administration deputized Guard troops to serve as special U.S. Marshal Service deputies. Schwalb's office said out-of-state troops impermissibly operate 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.
