Supreme court blocks guard deployment to Chicago

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to allow the federalization and deployment of National Guard troops to the Chicago area, leaving intact a lower-court injunction that blocks the move while litigation continues. The Justice Department had sought emergency relief to permit hundreds of Guard members to be sent as the administration expands domestic uses of military forces to several Democratic-led cities, including Portland, Los Angeles, Memphis and Washington, D.C.

The dispute centers on a statute the president invoked to federalize state Guard units to “suppress a rebellion, repel an invasion or if he is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.” Illinois and Chicago sued after roughly 300 Illinois Guard members were federalized and Texas Guard troops were ordered into the state, arguing the actions were unlawful. A Chicago federal judge temporarily enjoined the deployment, finding the administration’s claims about violent protests at a Broadview immigration facility unreliable and concluding there was no evidence of rebellion or a failure to enforce the law. The judge warned that sending troops would “only add fuel to the fire” and interpreted “regular forces” historically as referring to federally enlisted military, not state National Guard units.

A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift that injunction, saying the facts did not justify the president’s actions in Illinois. Two judges on the panel were Republican appointees. The Justice Department told the Supreme Court local officials’ assessments were “implausibly rosy” and contended federal agents faced threats of mob violence; Illinois and Chicago lawyers countered that protests never hindered operations at the facility and that state and local authorities had contained disruptions.

Separately, Portland and Oregon secured a federal court block on a planned deployment there and are pursuing their own challenge; the administration has appealed. The Supreme Court previously requested briefing on how to interpret “regular forces” in the governing statute. The broader litigation raises questions about constitutional and statutory limits on domestic military deployments, the balance of federal and state authority, and whether the executive met the legal threshold for federalizing Guard troops. For now, the high court’s refusal to intervene preserves the lower-court rulings and prevents federal Guard deployments to Chicago while the legal battle proceeds.