Supreme Court Won’t Let Trump Send Troops to Chicago

R: AP Photo

The Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump could not deploy National Guard troops to Chicago in 6-3 decision released on Tuesday.

“To call the Guard into active federal service under §12406(3), the President must be ‘unable’ with the regular military ‘to execute the laws of the United States.’ Because the statute requires an assessment of the military’s ability to execute the laws, it likely applies only where the military could legally execute the laws. Such circumstances are exceptional: Under the Posse Comitatus Act, the military is prohibited from ‘execut[ing] the laws’ ‘except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress.,'” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson in their majority opinion. “So before the President can federalize the Guard under §12406(3), he likely must have statutory or constitutional authority to execute the laws with the regular military and must be ‘unable’ with those forces to perform that function.”

“The Government has not carried its burden to show that §12406(3) permits the President to federalize the Guard in the exercise of inherent authority to protect federal personnel and property in Illinois. We need not and do not address the reviewability of findings made by the President under §12406(3) or any other statute,” it concluded.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred in judgment, while Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

In a November Truth Social Post, Trump declared that “The Miracle Mile Shopping Center in Chicago, once considered our Nation’s BEST, now has a more than 28% vacancy factor, and is ready to call it quits unless something is done about the murder and crime, which is prevalent throughout the City. CALL IN THE TROOPS, FAST, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!” The administration also cited a need to protect federal personnel and property around Chicago.

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