A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. has ruled that National Guard members may stay in the capital while a panel reviews whether President Trump’s order to deploy them is legal. The decision preserves the troops’ presence in D.C. as the legal process plays out.
Since August, more than 2,000 guardsmen have been stationed in the city, drawn from D.C.’s own units and from at least 11 other states led by Republicans. An intensified effort last month added hundreds more following a targeted attack that left one guard member dead and another wounded; both victims were from West Virginia.
The ruling overturns a lower court’s mandate that ordered the troops to leave. President Trump’s ongoing deployment in Washington represents the most extensive and enduring of such missions to date, part of a broader pattern of using National Guard forces to assist with policing in several Democratic-leaning cities around the country.
Other smaller deployments remain mired in court battles, including Trump’s presence in Chicago, which is currently under an emergency review by the Supreme Court.
The court’s opinion emphasizes that Washington, D.C.’s special federal status gives the President substantial authority over deployments within the city. It also signals that the administration is likely to prevail on the core merits of the case, potentially allowing the operation to continue at least through February 2026.
However, the judges expressed serious concern about similar tactics in other states. In particular, they questioned the legality of sending out-of-state National Guard personnel to operate in a different state without the receiving governor’s consent—precisely the approach the administration has pursued in Oregon and Illinois.
The opinion described such moves as “constitutionally troubling to our federal system of government.”
Separately, a different federal appeals court decision came down just days earlier, ordering the Los Angeles troops to depart. The Ninth Circuit upheld a California judge’s ruling ending Trump’s federalization of the state’s Guard after an extended period in which thousands of guardsmen were deployed there—despite Governor Gavin Newsom’s opposition.
Following that ruling, the remaining National Guard personnel were removed from active duty in Los Angeles. Two sources familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak publicly confirmed that the troops have been reassigned to nearby facilities for training and other activities while the federal control framework is resolved.
