Washington joins states supporting D.C.’s challenge to Trump National Guard deployments

During the COVID pandemic, the Washington National Guard was assigned
to the Senior Center to help prepare food and deliver meals.
Photo by Diane Hettrick

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown today filed an amicus brief in support of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful deployment of National Guard troops to the District of Columbia.

Brown joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general in asserting that the deployment of National Guard troops without the consent of D.C. is unlawful, unconstitutional, and undemocratic.

Domestic use of the military has long been recognized as antithetical to American values. While California and D.C. were the first places subjected to unlawful federalized deployments, President Trump has made clear that this is the beginning—not the end—of the military occupation of American cities.

In the brief, Brown and the coalition urge the District Court for the District of Columbia to grant a preliminary injunction and make clear that the Constitution prohibits the use of soldiers as local law enforcement.

“Trump’s National Guard deployments across the country are dangerous, illegal, and violate our founding principles. The president is taking Guard members away from their jobs and families not to protect the public, respond to true emergencies, or stand at the ready.

"He is taking them to create a military state in American cities and to bolster his image as an authoritarian who can do whatever he wants,” Brown said earlier this month in response to the president’s actions.

Brown and the coalition argue that:

• Using the military for local law enforcement, as the president has done in the District of Columbia, upsets the careful balance between civilian and military authority set forth in the Constitution.
• The deployment of National Guard troops infringes on the police powers reserved to states and localities. The Constitution establishes a federal government of limited, enumerated powers—general police power is not among them.
• National Guard troops are not prepared to engage in civilian law enforcement, lacking training in criminal procedure, civil rights, criminal investigation, and de-escalation. This introduces complications and dangers to both the public and the troops engaging with them.
• States need the National Guard to be available for vital natural disaster and security functions.

Brown joins the attorneys general of California, Maryland, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin in filing the brief.