AUSTIN (Nexstar) — U.S. District Court Judges April Perry and Karin Immergut are both currently weighing a difficult question: can President Donald Trump deploy Texas National Guard troops to states without their governor’s consent?
Immergut, a Trump appointee who serves as a judge for the District of Oregon, indicated she’s leaning towards ‘no’ late Sunday night. On Saturday, she temporarily blocked Trump from federalizing 200 Oregon National Guard troops to protect federal buildings in Portland. The next day, Trump’s administration changed from federalizing Oregon National Guardsmen to deploying 200 Californian National Guardsmen, with Oregon officials also citing a memo written by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering 400 Texas National Guardsmen to be activated for deployment to Oregon, Illinois and possibly more states.
“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be in direct contravention to the temporary restraining order I issued yesterday?” Immergut said during a late-night phone hearing over the change in plans, according to the Associated Press. She ruled to block the move for 14 days, with the potential for an extension at a hearing on Oct. 17.
Thousands of miles away in Chicago, former President Joe Biden-appointed Judge Perry will make the call on outside National Guardsmen being federalized in Illinois after the state and the city of Chicago filed suit against the Trump administration early Monday morning.
“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” they wrote in their lawsuit. “To guard against this, foundational principles of American law limit the president’s authority to involve the military in domestic affairs. Those bedrock principles are in peril.”
Prior to the lawsuit, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker posted his thoughts about Trump ordering Texas National Guardsmen to Illinois and Oregon.
“We must start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion,” Pritzker wrote on X. “I call on Governor Abbott to immediately withdraw any support for this decision and refuse to coordinate. There is no reason a President should send military troops into a sovereign state without their knowledge, consent, or cooperation,” he said in a follow-up.
Less than an hour later, Abbott responded, “You can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let Texas Guard do it.”
A representative for Abbott said they have no further statement past his Sunday night post. Pritzker’s team also pointed back to his posts and an upcoming press conference at 2 p.m.
Staff for Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek did not respond to a request for comment.
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