US appeals court says Trump ‘exercised statutory authority’ when deploying troops to Portland News
The Trump White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
US appeals court says Trump ‘exercised statutory authority’ when deploying troops to Portland

A US appeals court order issued Monday granted President Donald Trump and his administration’s request to stay a temporary restraining order that prevented the federalization of 200 members of the Oregon National Guard.

However, despite the decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Trump administration cannot yet deploy National Guard members to Oregon.

US District Judge Karin Immergut of the US District Court for the District of Oregon granted two of the requests by the State of Oregon and the City of Portland: an order issued October 4 to temporarily restrain the Trump administration from federalizing and deploying the Oregon National Guard members: and an order issued October 5 to prohibit Trump from sending National Guard members to Oregon in general.

The second of the two orders remains effective, barring the National Guard from being deployed to the area, as the Trump administration had not yet appealed the second temporary restraining order until Monday. Citing the Ninth Circuit’s decision on Monday, the Trump Administration asked the same appeals court to consider the lower court’s second temporary restraining order.

Trump attempted to take command of the Oregon National Guard members, directing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on September 27 to deploy them to protect the personnel and property at the Lindquist Building, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland. In a social media post, he said he had authorized “Full Force, if necessary,” and referred to the city as “war-ravaged” and “under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists.”

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded in its split 2-1 decision that the Trump administration was “likely to succeed on the merits of their appeal” because the president “lawfully exercised his statutory authority,” citing the US Code for the National Guard in Federal Service call, which authorizes the federalization of the National Guard when “the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the US.”

A US federal judge had extended the block preventing National Guard troops from entering Portland, Oregon, on October 15. Trump has tried to deploy the National Guard similarly in other cities across the country, including Chicago.

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