ACLU Statement on Supreme Court Blocking President Trump’s Troop Deployment to Illinois

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Supreme Court upheld the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s decision blocking the Trump administration's attempt to deploy 500 members of the Illinois and Texas National Guards in Illinois.

In its decision, the Supreme Court recognized that deployment of the military to “execute the laws” is “exceptional” and held that the government “failed to identify a source of authority” that would permit it in Illinois.

“This decision reinforces that domestic deployment of troops is rare and exceptional, and it was absolutely unjustified in Illinois,” said Hina Shamsi, director of ACLU’s National Security Project. “With each court decision against the President’s domestic troop deployments, it becomes clearer that his version of American cities as hellscapes, and protest against his policies as requiring troops, is plain false. We’re glad that the Supreme Court has upheld the order blocking this blatant abuse of presidential power because there’s no reason for any troops policing civilians in our streets.”

The district court in Illinois found on October 10 that federal officials’ versions of the facts were “not reliable” and identified a “troubling trend” of government officials “equating protests with riots,” indicating “both bias and lack of objectivity.” In its decision, the district court rejected the government’s assertion that President Trump’s invocation of 10 USC 12406 to federalize National Guard troops could not be reviewed by courts. After the administration sought an emergency stay of the district court’s ruling from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the appeals court allowed the President to federalize National Guard troops but prohibited their deployment.

In its decision today, the Supreme Court noted two major restrictions on the President’s claim of authority to deploy troops in Illinois. First, it emphasized that deployment of federal troops to enforce federal law is generally prohibited under the Posse Comitatus Act unless the Constitution or Congress expressly authorizes it. Second, it held that 10 USC 12406 requires the President to have lawful authority to use regular U.S. military forces to enforce the law and the President must show that he is unable to do so. The Court expressed skepticism that the President’s purpose of protecting federal personnel and property can ever justify the use of the military under Section 12406 and concluded that in any event the President failed to justify it in this case.

“The Court’s ruling cuts through the Administration’s manufactured rationale for sending National Guard troops into the Chicagoland area,” said Kevin Fee, legal director of the ACLU of Illinois. “As the District Court and Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit made clear, the administration has no coherent fact-based justification to deploy these forces. The administration’s account of the conditions on the ground in Chicagoland is pure fantasy.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Illinois, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the Foundation for Individual Rights & Expression, and The Rutherford Institute submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in this case, which can be found here: https://www.aclu.org/cases/trump-v-illinois