Washington, Dec 24: The US Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to deploy the National Guard in Illinois, delivering a legal setback to the administration. The court denied the request in a 6-3 vote, stating that the government had not identified a legal authority allowing the military to enforce laws in the state at this stage.
The dispute traces back to October 4, when Trump called 300 members of the Illinois National Guard into active federal service in and around Chicago. The following day, members of the Texas National Guard were also federalized and sent to Chicago.
On October 9, the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a temporary restraining order barring the federalization and deployment of the National Guard in Illinois. The order was upheld on October 16 by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, allowing federalization but not deployment. The Trump administration subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson defended the action, saying the National Guard had been activated “to protect federal law enforcement officers, and to ensure rioters did not destroy federal buildings and property.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat who opposed the deployment alongside Chicago’s Democratic mayor, welcomed the ruling, calling it a “big win for Illinois and American democracy.”