A US appeals court on Thursday delivered a win for President Donald Trump by allowing the National Guard to remain in Washington, halting a lower court ruling that would have required the deployment to end soon. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted an injunction that would have forced the Guard to withdraw by December 11.
Criticism of the deployment intensified after two Guard members were shot near the White House on November 26, just before Thanksgiving.
The court’s decision came in response to a legal challenge filed by District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb, a Democrat. Trump first deployed National Guard troops to the capital on August 11 in response to rising violent crime in Washington.
Since then, the district has seen the deployment of more than 2,000 Guard members.
Earlier Thursday, Judge Jia Michelle Cobb of the US District Court for DC ruled that Trump violated the city’s Home Rule Act by using Guard units for non-military crime deterrence operations.
Her decision placed a 21 day stay on the order, allowing troops to remain until December 11, 2025.
The stay also provides time for the Trump administration to appeal.
The White House told the Daily Mail that “Trump is well within his lawful authority to deploy the National Guard in Washington D.C. to protect federal assets and assist law enforcement with specific tasks.”
“This lawsuit is nothing more than another attempt — at the detriment of DC residents — to undermine the President’s highly successful operations to stop violent crime in DC,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
In her ruling, Cobb wrote that Trump’s deployment intruded on the authority of local officials and violated the Constitution.
She said the president cannot call up the National Guard in DC or any state for “whatever reason [he] sees fit.”
Schwalb sued to block the deployments and asked the court to bar the White House from sending troops to the district without approval from the mayor.
Trump declared a crime emergency in Washington in August.
He deployed 2,300 National Guard troops from eight states and DC to patrol the streets under the command of the Secretary of the Army.
He also sent hundreds of federal agents from agencies including the FBI, ATF, DEA, and HSI to support 24 hour patrols.
Washington was not the only city targeted for long-term deployments.
Troops remain in Memphis, Tennessee, but courts in Portland, Oregon and Chicago, Illinois blocked similar operations.
The man arrested for ambushing and shooting two National Guard members the day before Thanksgiving will now face a first-degree murder charge, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in November. Pirro announced the upgraded charge after officials confirmed Thursday that one of the victims, 20-year-old Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, died from her injuries in a D.C. area hospital, the Washington Times reported.
Suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, is also facing three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.
Beckstrom’s father, Gary Beckstrom, wrote on Facebook, “My baby girl has passed to glory. If I don’t talk to you don’t be offended this has been a horrible tragedy.”
Pirro said Friday on “Fox & Friends” that there are “many more charges to come,” including murder in the first degree. Beckstrom volunteered to work duty over the holiday, Pirro said, and “she ended up being shot ambush style on the cold streets of Washington, D.C.”
Lakanwal, an Afghan national who lived in Bellingham, Washington, was arrested moments after the ambush near Farragut Square Park, two blocks from the White House. Reports said that he allegedly overstayed his visa and was living illegally in the U.S.
