Federal court says troops can stay in D.C., and hints at prolonged deployment

National Guard troops can remain in Washington, D.C. while a panel of judges examines whether the deployment ordered by President Trump is legal, according to a Federal Appeals Court for Washington, D.C. ruling.

More than 2,000 troops have been deployed in the city since August, both from the District and at least 11 Republican-led states. Hundreds more were added after a targeted attack on National Guard troops killed one and wounded another last month, both of whom were from West Virginia.

The decision Wednesday upends a lower court order that troops be removed from the city.

President Trump’s deployment in Washington is the most robust long-running operation so far, in what has become a pattern of military deployments to help with policing in Democratic-led cities around the country.

Several other smaller deployments are tied up in legal battles — including Trump’s deployment to Chicago which is at the Supreme Court awaiting an emergency decision.

In today’s ruling the judges wrote that Washington, D.C.’s unique federal status allows President Trump to largely control the deployment of troops in the city. They also said the Trump administration is likely to win the overall case, which would see the deployment remain until at least the end of February 2026.

But the judges also raised serious doubts about the lawfulness of deployments of other cities. In particular, the deployment of out-of-state Guard to another state without the consent of that state’s governor — as the administration has tried to do in both Oregon and Illinois.

The opinion called such a move “constitutionally troubling to our federal system of government.”

Troops have left Los Angeles

Today’s decision comes days after a different federal appeals court ruled that troops had to leave Los Angeles on Monday.

The Ninth Circuit ruled late Friday night to uphold a ruling by a federal judge in California to end Trump’s deployment. Trump seized control of the California National Guard in June amid protests in the city and sent more than 4,000 troops there, against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s wishes.

That number had since dropped to around 100, but the administration had sought to extend the federalization of the state’s Guard several times, most recently until February, saying it was still necessary.

The decision from the Ninth Circuit effectively blocked the administration from using those remaining National Guard troops in Los Angeles — but it did not force control of the troops to return to the state, leaving them under federal control for now.

All troops have left their stations in the city, according to two sources familiar with the matter who are not authorized to talk publicly. A military official who was not authorized to discuss details of a deployment publicly told NPR that the troops have been moved to a military facility in the area and are conducting training exercises.

NPR’s Tom Bowman contributed to this report from Washington.