A federal judge orders the Trump administration to end National Guard deployment in D.C

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to end a months-long deployment of National Guard troops to assist police in the nation’s capital.

U.S. District Judge Gia Cobb concluded that President Donald Trump’s military takeover in Washington, D.C., violates the Constitution and unlawfully encroaches on the authority of local officials to direct law enforcement in the region. But she suspended her order for 21 days to allow the appeal.

District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit against the Guard deployment. He asked the judge to order the White House not to deploy Guard forces without the mayor’s approval.

Read more: Hundreds of National Guard troops deployed in Portland and Chicago were sent home

In August, President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington. Within a month, more than 2,300 National Guard soldiers from eight states and the region were patrolling the city under the command of the Secretary of the Army. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist with patrols.

It is unclear how long the deployments will last, but lawyers from Schwalb’s office said Guard forces will likely remain in the city until at least next summer.

“Our constitutional democracy will never be the same if these professions are allowed to continue,” they wrote.

Government lawyers said Congress gave the president the authority to control National Guard operations in the capital. They argued that Schwalb’s lawsuit is a frivolous “political stunt” that threatens to undermine a successful campaign to reduce violent crime in the area.

“There is no reasonable cause to issue an injunction to void this arrangement now, especially since the county’s claims have no merit,” the Justice Department lawyers wrote.

Trump’s deployment of his guards led to other legal challenges. A federal appeals court on Monday suspended an order barring Trump from taking command of 200 Oregon National Guard troops. In September, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration illegally sent Guard troops to the Los Angeles area after days of protests over immigration raids.

In Washington, the Trump administration has authorized Guard troops to serve as special deputies in the US Marshals Service. Schwalb’s office said out-of-state forces were impermissibly acting as a federal military police force in D.C., inflaming tensions with residents and diverting local police resources.

“Every day that this lawless incursion continues, the District suffers harm to its sovereign authority to conduct local law enforcement as it chooses,” his office’s lawyers wrote.