Appeals court allows Trump admin to deploy National Guard to Portland
A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that the Trump administration can deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the administration would likely succeed on its appeal of an order that blocked the deployment.
The ruling grants the White House’s motion to stay the lower court’s order blocking deployment while the appeal plays out. The three-judge panel ruled after U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut ruled to extend a temporary restraining order blocking the deployment.
President Donald Trump has said that protests outside the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility justify the deployment. Straight Arrow News previously reported on these protests, which have continued for several weeks.
Have officials responded to the ruling?
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield issued a statement following the ruling. In his statement, he said America would be on a “dangerous path” if the order is allowed to stand.
“Today’s ruling, if allowed to stand, would give the president unilateral power to put Oregon soldiers on our streets with almost no justification,” Rayfield wrote. “We are on a dangerous path in America.”
Similarly, in a statement shared with Straight Arrow News, Portland City Council said it disagrees with the panel’s ruling, but that “this is just one hearing in a longer legal case against federal overreach.”
“The Trump administration has repeatedly faced legal setbacks for reckless and unlawful actions, and in the long run, we expect to add to their losses in court,” the City Council wrote, before citing the peaceful nature of mass demonstrations that took place just a couple of days before.
“This past weekend, close to 50,000 people marched on our streets and made their voices heard peacefully. Allowing the National Guard to be deployed when the facts fail to match the Trump administration’s narrative sets a dangerous precedent that threatens every community in our country.”
Judge Susan Graber, the only one of the three judges to vote against the decision, said she expects “political theater” from administrations but the judicial branch must rule by facts not drama.
“We have come to expect a dose of political theater in the political branches, drama designed to rally the base or to rile or intimidate political opponents,” she wrote in her dissent. “The judicial branch stands apart. We rule on facts, not on supposition or conjecture, and certainly not on fabrication or propaganda.”
Graber urged her colleagues to act and vacate the order before the “illegal deployment of troops under false pretenses can occur.”
Norman Williams, a constitutional law professor at Willamette University in Oregon, told Straight Arrow News that he expects the state to seek a full court ruling which would consist of 11 judges.
“Oregon is seeking to get an en banc review from the 9th Circuit, which would be an 11-member panel, which might be more representative of the fullcourt than the three judges that were randomly chosen for the current panel,” he said.
This is a developing story and more information will be added as it’s received.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
