The US Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump from deploying National Guard troops to Illinois, a sharp rebuke to his bid to use state militias to bolster a Chicago-area immigration crackdown.
Court Cites Strict Limits On Guard Federalization
According to a Reuters report, the ruling keeps a lower-court order in place and marks a rare defeat for Trump at a high court that has often backed his expansive view of presidential power.
In an unsigned order, the justices refused the administration’s emergency request to activate hundreds of Guard members around a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, outside Chicago.
“At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the court wrote. The majority signaled that the statute Trump invoked allows federalization of the Guard only in “exceptional” cases such as invasion or rebellion, and when the president is “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
Legal analysts noted, speaking to Reuters, that the decision reinforces long-standing limits on domestic use of troops under the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally bars federal forces from performing civilian law enforcement absent explicit authorization.
Judges Reject Trump Depiction Of ‘Mob Violence’
Trump had already taken Illinois and Texas Guard units under federal control, arguing they were needed to protect immigration agents and federal property from what the administration called “mob violence” at Broadview protests.
A federal judge in Chicago had blocked the deployment in October, finding no evidence of rebellion and faulting officials for “equating protests with riots,” a decision later upheld by the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
The White House said the defeat would not alter Trump’s broader immigration push. “The President promised the American people he would work tirelessly to enforce our immigration laws and protect federal personnel from violent rioters,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement shared with CBS, adding, “Nothing in today’s ruling detracts from that core agenda.”
Democrats Hail Ruling As Check On Power
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) hailed the decision as “a big win for Illinois and American democracy,” saying it showed Trump “did not have the authority to deploy the federalized guard in Illinois” and calling it “an important step in curbing the Trump Administration’s consistent abuse of power and slowing Trump’s march toward authoritarianism.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D), in a statement of his own, said the ruling “rebuk[es] President Trump’s attempts to militarize and demonize our city” and vowed to keep fighting “federal overreach” in court.
The ruling lands as Trump faces parallel legal challenges to Guard deployments in Los Angeles, Portland and Washington, D.C., where federal judges have already questioned his reliance on military forces for domestic law enforcement.
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