Supreme Court blocks National Guard deployment to Chicago

The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked President Trump from sending the National Guard into the Chicago area, dealing a rare loss to the President on an issue of executive power.

The high court left untouched a judge’s decision blocking the government from putting National Guard members on the streets of Chicago and surrounding areas, effectively blocking the President from sending National Guard troops to Chicago.

The Trump administration had urged the Supreme Court to allow the move to deploy the troops over the objection of Illinois’ Democratic governor, arguing that federal courts cannot second-guess the President’s decision to call the National Guard into federal service.

But the Supreme Court declined the administration’s request to freeze that order in a decision that appears to be 6-3. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch noted their dissents.

In an unsigned order, the Supreme Court found that “at least in this posture” the Trump administration has not met its burden to show that Title 10, the law Mr. Trump invoked, permits him to federalize the National Guard “in the exercise of inherent authority to protect federal personnel and property in Illinois.”

The President has brought state-run National Guards under federal control in several US cities as his administration has ramped up immigration enforcement operations. Trump has so far moved to deploy National Guard units in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Memphis, Portland and Chicago to protect federal property and personnel, and he has threatened to send troops to other major cities, including Baltimore and San Francisco.

While this is a setback to the President, the decision was more on procedural grounds than on whether the President can mobilize the National Guard and have them go into American cities.