Attorney General Clark Joins Opposition to Trump's Unlawful Deployment of National Guard to Chicago

Attorney General Charity Clark today joined a coalition of 24 attorneys general and governors in filing a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in support of Illinois against President Trump's unlawful, unconstitutional, and undemocratic deployment of the National Guard without approval from the state's governor. The coalition's brief says the President's actions break the law and threaten one of America's most important principles - that the military must remain under civilian control - while also threatening state sovereignty and core constitutional principles of federalism.

In recent months, the Trump administration has repeatedly ordered the National Guard into communities throughout the country to usurp the role of local law enforcement. First California, then Washington, D.C., recently Oregon, and now Illinois. The coalition's brief makes clear that this violates the Constitution and federal law.

The brief urges the appeals court to reject the Trump administration's request to move forward with the deployment. It explains that using federal troops in civilian communities is unlawful and harms both public safety and trust. The filing warns that turning the military into a domestic police force would blur the line between civilian and military power - the very abuse the Founders sought to prevent when creating our democracy.

Earlier today, although it allowed for the federalization of the Guard during the pendency of the stay request, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denied the Trump administration's request for an immediate administrative stay of the portion of the district court's decision that barred the deployment of any federalized National Guard in Illinois.

Attorney General Clark and the coalition are calling on the court to deny the Trump administration's request for a broad stay pending appeal, which would allow troops to be deployed to Chicago. The brief urges the Court of Appeals to uphold the lower court's ruling that stopped this encroachment by the Trump administration, and to protect the balance of power between the states and the federal government.

Joining Attorney General Clark in filing the brief are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai'i, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington. The governors of Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania also joined the filing.

A copy of the brief is available on our website.

CONTACT: Amelia Vath, Senior Advisor to the Attorney General, 802-828-3171