In West Virginia, a court is currently deliberating a lawsuit challenging the state’s decision to send National Guard troops to patrol Washington, D.C. This move was part of former President Donald Trump’s initiative to deploy military forces in cities governed by Democrats.
This hearing marks the third session within three weeks in Charleston, focusing on the state’s response to Trump’s crime-reduction strategies. These efforts have sparked numerous legal battles and conflicting court decisions.
Beginning in August, West Virginia joined several other states in dispatching National Guard members to the nation’s capital. Although initially planned to continue until November’s end, the state National Guard is working with the governor’s office to determine if their presence should be prolonged. Recently, official orders extended Washington, D.C.’s National Guard deployment through February’s end.
The West Virginia Citizen Action Group, a civic organization, filed a lawsuit claiming that Republican Governor Patrick Morrisey overstepped his authority by sending up to 300 Guard members to Washington, D.C. They argue that state law only allows the governor to deploy the National Guard out of state for specific reasons, such as responding to natural disasters or emergency aid requests from other states.
Governor Morrisey’s office maintains that the deployment was within federal legal bounds.
In a previous hearing last month, the civic organization contended that the deployment diverted its resources from its main focus on government accountability and transparency. The state attorney general’s office countered by requesting the case be dismissed, arguing that the group had not suffered harm and lacked the legal standing to dispute Morrisey’s decision.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Richard Lindsay continued that hearing after asking attorneys for the state to specifically address whether the deployment was lawful.
After hearing one witness testify for the plaintiff group on Nov. 3, Lindsay continued the case again.
While Trump issued an executive order in August declaring a crime emergency in the nation’s capital, the U.S. Justice Department says violent crime there is at a 30-year low.
Within a month, more than 2,300 Guard troops from eight states and the district were patrolling under the Army secretary’s command. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist them.
Separately, a federal judge heard arguments Oct. 24 on District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb ’s request for an order that would remove National Guard members from Washington streets. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, did not rule from the bench.
