Trump's DC troop deployment allowed by appeals court for now

Zoe Tillman, Bloomberg News on Dec 4, 2025

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A U.S. appeals court will allow President Donald Trump to keep thousands of National Guard troops in Washington for now, temporarily halting a district judge’s ruling that declared the deployment unlawful.

The order on Thursday from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit isn’t a final decision, but it bolsters Trump’s efforts to mobilize military forces in Democrat-led cities, often over objections from local officials.

More than 2,000 troops are deployed in Washington, including approximately half from other states. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb’s injunction against the administration was set to take effect on Dec. 11. The latest order delays that deadline until the appeals court decides whether to impose a longer-term pause while the underlying legal fight continues.

The latest phase of the legal fight over Trump’s troop deployment in Washington has unfolded against the backdrop of a shooting late last month in the city that left one National Guard member dead and another injured. The suspect, a 29-year-old Afghan national, was charged with first-degree murder and assault with intent to kill. After the shooting, Trump ordered an additional 500 troops deployed to the capital. The Pentagon said all National Guard members in the city are now armed.

In arguing for the appeals court to allow Trump to continue the deployment, the Justice Department wrote in a recent brief that the “despicable act of violence does not undermine the public-safety benefits the Guard’s presence has brought.”

The Justice Department had said that it would seek immediate relief from the U.S. Supreme Court if the appeals court didn’t act by Thursday or if the panel ruled against the government.

The appeals panel included Judge Patricia Millett, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, and Judges Greg Katsas and Neomi Rao, who were both appointed during Trump’s first term. No judge noted a dissent. The panel said that the order “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits” of whether to approve a lengthier hold on Cobb’s decision.

Spokespeople for the Washington attorney general’s office and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump announced in August that he would send National Guard troops to Washington, escalating both his use of the military in cities over local opposition as well as his efforts to exert greater control over day-to-day affairs in the nation’s capital.

The president controls the city’s National Guard force, setting the case apart from lawsuits that have erupted over the administration’s move to federalize state-controlled troops in Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Oregon.

In her Nov. 20 ruling, Cobb found that Trump and other U.S. officials didn’t have authority to order Washington’s troops to perform domestic law enforcement activities without first being asked for help by local officials.

She also held that the administration had unlawfully called in non-federalized, out-of-state troops. State units could provide federal support for missions rooted in state law, the judge wrote. If Washington’s National Guard troops couldn’t perform “general crime deterrence” under the city’s laws, troops from other states couldn’t be invited to do it either, she held.

Cobb rejected the administration’s “expansive” views of Trump’s authority to use the out-of-state troops in Washington, writing that it would give the president an “escape hatch” from the “strong restraints” on when he can federalize state units and send them across the country without first needing approval from governors.