Appeals Court to Rule on DC Nat'l Guard10/14 06:13

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than 14 months after National Guard members began 
patrolling the streets of the nation's capital, a federal appeals court on 
Wednesday will hear arguments over whether they should be sent home.

   Oral arguments are scheduled in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District 
of Columbia Circuit. The hearing comes months after the court paused a lower 
court's ruling that the deployment was illegal.

   President Donald Trump deployed the guard in August 2025 as part of what he 
said was a crime-fighting mission in Washington, D.C. The force, which rose to 
a peak of about 5,000 troops over the summer, has supported arrest operations, 
patrolled city streets and neighborhoods and participated in cleanup efforts.

   Trump's Republican administration says the deployment has contributed to a 
decrease in crime in the city, where crime was already on the decline before 
the National Guard arrived. Officials and activists in the overwhelmingly 
Democratic city say the deployment is a waste of taxpayer money and has 
normalized the militarization of a major American city.

   The case is about whether the president has the authority 

   At the heart of the court case, brought by D.C.'s attorney general, is 
whether the president has the authority to deploy the National Guard to the 
city, which, as a federal district, has limited autonomy over its own affairs. 
The U.S. Constitution gives federal lawmakers authority over the District of 
Columbia, while the Home Rule Act of 1973 lets residents elect a mayor, a 
council and neighborhood commissioners.

   The city has argued that the mobilization is an illegal use of the military 
for domestic law enforcement.

   Last December, the three-judge panel that paused the lower court's ruling 
said Trump might prevail in his argument that the president "possesses a unique 
power" to mobilize the guard in Washington.

   The court went on to say in a unanimous 32-page ruling that other factors 
also favored the Trump administration, including the "disruption to the lives 
of thousands of service members," as well as what it said was the president's 
interest "in the protection of federal governmental functions and property 
within the nation's capital."

   The judges found that the district "has not identified any ongoing injury to 
its statutory interests."

   Even if D.C. wins at the appeals court level, the Trump administration will 
undoubtedly go to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has already shown deference to 
the president in a number of cases.

   Legal experts look at the arguments that could be made 

   Syracuse law professor William Banks said D.C. might have a slim argument 
under its home rule, questioning whether National Guard units can be deployed 
to the city when it isn't authorized by local law.

   But, he said, outside of that argument "there is no overarching federal 
principle that would bail out the district in this case."

   Because D.C. is not a state and because the president is commander in chief, 
there's a "tremendous amount of leeway and discretion for the president" to 
control or delegate control of the local National Guard and out-of-state units, 
Banks said.

   Margaret Hu, a professor at the William and Mary School of Law, said one 
issue to look for was raised by states supporting the deployment in court 
briefs. They argued the president was reacting to an emergency. Hu said the 
open-ended manner of the deployment might allow a challenge to that.

   "Some argue that the indefinite nature of the deployment means that there's 
no emergency justification here," she said.

   A judge said Trump couldn't unilaterally deploy the DC National Guard 

   U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb concluded last November that Trump's military 
takeover in Washington illegally intrudes on local officials' authority to 
direct law enforcement in the district.

   Cobb found that while the president does have authority to protect federal 
functioning and property, he can't unilaterally deploy the D.C. National Guard 
to help with crime control as he sees fit or call in troops from other states. 
She put her order on hold for 21 days to allow the appeal by the Trump 
administration.

   The appeals court stayed the order and has allowed the guard to remain in 
place while the case is pending.

   The mobilization, extended until January 2029 by the Defense Department, has 
taken on a sense of permanence, despite the court case.

   The federal government awarded a $292 million contract to a private company 
to provide members of the Joint Task Force-D.C. with apartments. The numbers 
have grown as well, ballooning to around 5,000 during the height of the 
semiquincentennial celebration. As of last week, that number had dropped to 
about 2,900.