D.C. Hits Back and Sues Trump Over Illegal Military Occupation

Trump used D.C.’s lack of statehood to essentially claim the district as his own, placing it under complete federal control because he felt that crime was rampant. Thousands of National Guard troops, along with federal officers from the FBI, HSI, and ICE flooded the streets of D.C. virtually overnight on Trump’s orders. And while residents have been frustrated with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s capitulation to Trump, this lawsuit shows that the city is fighting back.

“None of this is lawful. For one thing, Defendants’ deployment of National Guard units to police District streets without the Mayor’s consent violates both the Home Rule Act and a congressionally approved compact governing the interstate mobilization of state National Guard troops,” the lawsuit read. “Congress gave the President no role in policing the District. What is more, the interstate compact that Congress approved entitles the District alone to determine when to ‘request’ emergency assistance, including ‘National Guard forces,’ from other states. Neither the President nor the military he controls may supplant these judgments by deciding for themselves how to police the District or by unilaterally inviting other states to send National Guard forces to ‘assist’ the District.”

The lawsuit follows a California judge ruling earlier this week that Trump’s deployment of troops in Los Angeles in June was a clear violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.