SCOTUS Rules Against Trump on National Guard

The Supreme Court has put the brakes on one of President Trump's more aggressive law-and-order moves. In an unsigned order Tuesday, the court blocked the president from sending National Guard troops into Chicago to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, CNN reports. "At this preliminary stage, the government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois," the court said.

• At issue was a federal law that lets presidents federalize the Guard when they can't enforce federal law with "regular forces." The justices signaled that phrase most likely refers to the standing military, not all federal agents, and that the statute probably applies only in situations where the military is allowed to carry out law enforcement itself—not simply to back up immigration officers.

• That reading drew a rare split on the right side of the bench. Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch dissented. Alito, joined by Thomas, argued the court gave short shrift to what he called the president's inherent constitutional power to protect federal workers and property, and said there was "no basis" to second-guess Trump's conclusion that civilian law enforcement wasn't enough to carry out immigration laws. The majority's view, he warned, could "thwart" efforts to shield federal officers from potentially deadly attacks.
• Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with the majority but urged a narrower approach. He agreed that "regular forces" means the US military, yet cautioned that the court's broader legal reasoning could have "potentially significant" ripple effects in future emergencies the justices can't yet anticipate.
• The Supreme Court took more than two months to rule on the administration's emergency request to overturn an October ruling that blocked the deployment of troops, the AP reports. In her ruling, US District Judge April Perry said the deployment violated the 10th and 14th Amendments, as well as the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the use of the military for law enforcement. She said the Department of Homeland Security's depiction of events in Chicago was "unreliable," adding: "I have seen no credible evidence that there is danger of rebellion in the state of Illinois."