President Trump asked the Supreme Court to lift a lower court’s hold on the use of the National Guard in Chicago. The judges said they needed more information before making a decision.
What you need to know about President Trump deploying the Illinois National Guard | Video
Here’s what you need to know about President Donald Trump’s command of 300 Illinois National Guard troops and dispatch to Chicago.
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Thursday delayed a decision on whether to lift a stay put by a lower court in a dispute over National Guard troops that President Donald Trump wants to send to Chicago, requesting more documents.
The National Guard normally operates under the command of a state’s governor, but can be called to federal service by the president only under certain circumstances. The Trump administration claims that two of these conditions exist in Chicago: an insurrection against the government and an inability to enforce the law “by regular military.”
The justices asked the Justice Department and the cities and states to submit written explanations on whether the term “regular military” meant the regular forces of the U.S. military. The justices also asked how the term relates to the National Guard.
The high court set a Nov. 10 deadline for the government to file its complaint, and a Nov. 17 deadline for the city and state to respond.
In an Oct. 9 ruling, U.S. District Judge April Perry said initial evidence shows that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are able to perform their duties without military assistance, and that sending in troops would likely lead to civil unrest.
Chicago based 7th The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals largely agreed with the district judge’s opinion.
But the Justice Department told the Supreme Court that it is up to the president, not the courts, to decide whether the national military is needed. And they argued that even though a judge could review the president’s deployment decision, Trump’s decision was correct.
The Justice Department said the situation in Chicago “now poses an unsustainable danger to federal employees who risk their lives performing essential law enforcement functions.”
Chicago is not the first city in which Trump has tried to deploy security guards, but it was the first case to reach the Supreme Court.
Officials in California and Oregon are suing to block deployments in their states.
State and local officials argue that federalizing the military is an unconstitutional usurpation of state power.
The Chicago area has become the epicenter of the administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown known as Operation Midway Blitz. Protests have erupted in response, many in front of the ICE facility in the Broadview suburb.
President Trump federalized approximately 300 members of the Illinois National Guard and approximately 400 members of the Texas National Guard.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul told the Supreme Court that state and local law enforcement officials were responding to “isolated protests,” some of which are constitutionally protected by the First Amendment.
In a letter supporting Illinois, a group of former military officials said that federalizing the National Guard should be “a last resort to avoid the inevitable politicization of the military that undermines public confidence, negatively impacts the draft, and undermines morale.”
“Peaceful protests against government actions are constitutionally protected speech and deserve the highest protections,” they wrote, “not military intimidation.”
