California National Guard and U.S. Marines from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division stand guard outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles, June 13, 2025. Image: Stephen Lam San Francisco Chronicle/Getty Images.
(The Post News) – Washington, D.C., has become the latest city to take legal action against U.S. President Donald Trump over his deployment of National Guard troops, claiming the Pentagon acted unlawfully. This follows California’s recent successful challenge of Trump’s use of the National Guard in federal court.
In a federal lawsuit filed on Thursday by D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, the city is seeking a court order to recognize and block the deployment of National Guard troops as “unconstitutional,” arguing that it “violates multiple federal laws.”
This lawsuit is a result of Trump deploying troops to Washington in an attempt to curb the alleged rise in violent crime, effectively placing the Metropolitan Police Department under federal command. During this public safety emergency, troops took on domestic law enforcement activities, patrolling neighborhoods and performing frisk and search procedures.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded to the lawsuit, maintaining that President Trump acted within his legal authority. In a statement, the lawsuit was simply another effort to “undermine” Trump’s effective measures to curb violent crime in the capital. She added this comes “at the detriment of D.C. residents and visitors.”
D.C. Joins California in Challenging Federal Authority
The legal challenge follows a California federal court ruling two days ago that found Trump’s June 2025 troop deployment to Los Angeles violated thePosse Comitatus Act. The act restricts the use of the military in domestic law enforcement. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer’s decision effectively barred the Pentagon from similar actions in California without congressional approval.
Schwalb posted on X that the deployments “violate our local autonomy and basic freedoms” and insisted, “It must end.” Yet there appears to be no end in sight: Trump reaffirmed that despite opposition, he will continue sending troops into Democrat-led cities, beginning with Chicago and then Baltimore, as part of his ongoing crime crackdown.
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