Tensions between President Donald Trump and Washington, D.C.’s Democratic leadership escalated on Thursday as the city filed a lawsuit challenging his decision to deploy National Guard troops in the capital.
The lawsuit, submitted in federal court by D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, argues that the troop deployment is unconstitutional and violates multiple federal laws. The filing seeks a court order to block the continued military presence, calling it an overreach of presidential authority.
Schwalb made his position clear in a statement posted on X, writing: “Armed soldiers should not be policing American citizens on American soil. The forced military occupation of the District of Columbia violates our local autonomy and basic freedoms. It must end.”
The legal action comes just days after a separate court ruling deemed Trump’s deployment of troops to fight crime in California unlawful, signaling a pattern of judicial pushback against his efforts to expand the military’s role domestically.
Trump has defended his decision, insisting the National Guard is necessary to “re-establish law, order, and public safety” in the capital. Alongside the deployment, he also placed the city’s Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control, a move critics say strips the district of its self-governance.
The case is expected to fuel further political and legal battles over the president’s use of military force on U.S. soil, a contentious issue at the heart of American civil liberties and local autonomy.
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