WASHINGTON – On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a temporary halt to a previous court decision, which had mandated the withdrawal of National Guard troops from Washington, D.C.
The brief notice from the appeals court clarified, “This administrative stay is intended to provide the court adequate time to evaluate the motion for stay pending appeal and should not be interpreted as an indication of the court’s stance on the merits of that motion.”
This move by the appeals court comes in response to a request from the Trump administration, effectively suspending U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb’s ruling from November 20. Judge Cobb had determined that President Donald Trump’s imposition of military presence in D.C. unlawfully interfered with local authorities’ control over law enforcement in the area.
Judge Cobb acknowledged that while the president holds the power to safeguard federal operations and properties, he lacks the authority to independently deploy the D.C. National Guard for crime control or to summon troops from other states. She had paused her order for 21 days to permit the Trump administration to file an appeal.
The stay issued on Thursday is expected to extend beyond this initial 21-day period.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson stated, “We have consistently asserted that the President was within his rights to deploy the National Guard to D.C. We are confident that we will ultimately be vindicated.”
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 were patrolling the city under the command of the Secretary of the Army. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist in patrols.
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.
Schwalb’s office was not immediately available for comment on Thursday’s stay.
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 court action comes eight days after West Virginia National Guard members Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe were ambushed as they patrolled a subway station three blocks from the White House. Beckstrom died Nov. 27 from her injuries. Wolfe continues to recover. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who was also shot during last Wednesday’s confrontation, has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
The administration has called for an additional 500 National Guard members to be deployed to Washington as a result of the shooting. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced this week she was sending 100 military members as part of that buildup.
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