The U.S. District Court ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump overstepped his authority by deploying National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to address violent crime. The decision came after the attorney general’s office filed a lawsuit against the deployment, which was justified as a response to rising criminal activity in the area.
Judge Jia Cobb stated that the president could not deploy military forces for “non-military, crime-deterrence missions” without a request from local civil authorities. The ruling gave the administration 21 days to appeal and emphasized that such actions constituted an unprecedented federal overreach.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb criticized the deployment as illegal, arguing that it set a dangerous precedent by allowing the executive branch to bypass state authority. “This unprecedented federal overreach is not normal, or legal. It is long past time to let the National Guard go home — to their everyday lives, their regular jobs, their families, and their children,” he said.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller condemned the ruling as an example of judicial overreach, stating that “no district judge can steal for himself the powers of the Commander-in-Ch-Chief.” The president has faced challenges from local officials who argue the deployment undermines his efforts to combat crime.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser acknowledged the surge reduced violent crime but was criticized by other Democrats for publicly endorsing the measure. A White House spokesperson dismissed Schwalb’s lawsuit as “another attempt — at the detriment of D.C. residents — to undermine the president’s highly successful operations to stop violent crime in D.C.”
The case highlights tensions over federal authority and the balance between executive power and state governance.
