A federal appeals court on Saturday partially reinstated President Trump’s authority over the National Guard in Chicago and throughout Illinois. However, the court stopped short of allowing him to actually deploy service members in the state.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit granted an administrative stay in part, permitting the president to federalize the Illinois National Guard. However, the court denied the administration’s request to deploy the National Guard. According to the order, unless the court commands otherwise, the troops are not required to return to their home states.
Previously, U.S. District Judge April Perry, appointed by former President Biden, blocked the administration’s use of the National Guard on Thursday. Illinois and Chicago officials, including Governor JB Pritzker (D), had filed a lawsuit earlier in the week, denouncing what Pritzker described as “an unconstitutional invasion of Illinois by the federal government.”
“Donald Trump is not a king and his administration is not above the law,” Pritzker proclaimed in a statement on the social platform X, following Perry’s ruling on Thursday.
Perry had also previously granted a temporary restraining order to Illinois and Chicago officials, stopping Trump from seizing control of National Guard troops and dispersing them throughout the state after some were ordered to patrol in Chicago.
Approximately 300 federalized Illinois National Guard members, along with about 200 troops from Texas, were deployed to the Chicago area on Wednesday night, as per the military unit overseeing them. They are slated to remain activated for 60 days.
The aim of the National Guard in Chicago is to “to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel who are performing federal functions, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property,” U.S. Northern Command said in a statement late Wednesday.
Perry’s decision on Saturday mirrors U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut’s Wednesday decision regarding Trump’s moves with the National Guard in Portland, Ore.
“The effect of granting an administrative stay preserves the status quo in which National Guard members have been federalized but not deployed,” a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit wrote in a brief order.
Senate Republicans questioned the president’s use of the National Guard to crack down on crime, asking about what it meant for states’ rights and presidential authority.
“I worry about someday a Democrat president sending troops or National Guard from New York, California, Oregon, Washington state to North Carolina,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said. “I think it’s bad precedent.”
