STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The Supreme Court ruled that National Guard troops need to stay out of Chicago for now.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
It was an interim ruling, the sort of preliminary case in which the court majority has deferred to the Trump administration again and again. This time, the court said the president failed to cite any law that would justify using the Guard under federal control to enforce the law.
INSKEEP: NPR's Kat Lonsdorf is covering this story. Kat, good morning.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning.
INSKEEP: What did the decision say?
LONSDORF: So the court ruled 6-3 against Trump, which is rare. It's one of only a handful of times the conservative court has ruled against the president in the emergency docket this term. It was an unsigned opinion, and it was really technical, but basically, the court wrote that the president failed to explain why the situation in Chicago warranted an exception to what's called the Posse Comitatus Act. That's a law that prohibits using the military for domestic law enforcement.
Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented, writing that they, quote, "strongly" disagreed with the way the court handled this case. They said the court should've remained focused on the narrow question in the administration's appeal, which they said was specifically around using troops to protect federal officers and facilities and not domestic law enforcement more generally.
INSKEEP: I guess we should remember the basic principle here is that federal troops shouldn't be used on civilians to enforce civilian laws except...
LONSDORF: Right.
INSKEEP: ...In certain cases. So how did this particular case end up before the court?
LONSDORF: Right, so this case stems from back in September when President Trump federalized the National Guard against Illinois Governor JB Pritzker's wishes and sent them into Chicago for what Trump said was protection of federal immigration officers and facilities. Remember, Steve, this all happened as the administration launched a new and increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement operation in the city and there were protests. But two lower courts blocked that deployment, so in October, the administration issued an emergency appeal up to the Supreme Court.
INSKEEP: And the court has now ruled - at least for now. What is the White House saying?
LONSDORF: Well, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson reiterated to NPR that the president activated the Guard to protect federal law enforcement officers and property. And she said nothing in the ruling, quote, "detracts from that core agenda." But this was another in a recent series of legal setbacks for the administration against these deployments. Governor Pritzker called it, quote, "a big win for Illinois and American democracy."
I'll also note, Steve, minutes after the ruling, Louisiana's governor, Jeff Landry, who's a Republican, announced that he'll be sending hundreds of National Guard troops into New Orleans soon. And this follows a pattern of Republican governors embracing these deployments, like we've seen in Tennessee.
INSKEEP: And it's legally different if the governor is on board and goes for this.
LONSDORF: Right.
INSKEEP: So what does this emergency or interim ruling mean for Trump's other National Guard deployments?
LONSDORF: Well, because this is an emergency decision, it's not precedent-setting, meaning it only applies to this specific case in Illinois at this specific time, not to the other deployments around the country. But all of those are caught up in litigation now, and lower courts do tend to look - at least look at these emergency decisions for guidance.
I talked to Elizabeth Goitein. She directs the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. She told me she thinks this decision will impact lower courts wrestling with these cases.
ELIZABETH GOITEIN: It's difficult to see how any lower courts would be able to uphold a deployment of federalized National Guard forces under this law in the future.
LONSDORF: And just to be clear, this might not be the last we hear from the Supreme Court on this issue. But at least for now, the president cannot send National Guard troops to Illinois without the governor's permission.
INSKEEP: NPR's Kat Lonsdorf, thanks for your reporting today. Really appreciate it.
LONSDORF: Thanks so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
