WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb ordered a halt to the Trump administration’s unlawful deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C. at the same time allowing the National Guard to stay in D.C. for 21 days while the Trump administration can appeal.
In response, a coalition of eleven D.C.-based civil rights and legal services organizations who filed a September 15 amicus brief in this case said:
"President Trump’s effort to take over D.C. streets with National Guard troops is a brazen power grab that has created fear and eroded democracy in our nation’s capital.
Today's ruling helps defend simple, foundational principles of our democracy: the military should not be deployed against civilians, and We the People can govern ourselves. The over 700,000 people who live in D.C. are just like people who live in any other state, and we deserve local control over the officials who patrol our streets.
Judge Cobb’s ruling is not only about Washington, D.C. The Trump administration has been using D.C. as a testing ground to see what can be normalized here and implemented in other states. This ruling provides an important check on presidential power and makes it clear that when we defend D.C., we defend democracy.”
The September 15 amicus brief was filed by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia (ACLU-D.C.), on behalf of themselves and: Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Bread for the City, Children’s Law Center, DC Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, Disability Rights DC at University Legal Services, Legal Aid DC, School Justice Project, Tzedek DC, and Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.
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