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Trump ramps up pressure on judges as he deploys more troops in US

President Donald Trump鈥檚 push to put National Guard troops on the ground in multiple U.S. cities has created a rapidly intensifying situation that鈥檚 posing a new test for democracy and the separation of powers.

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, ruled on Saturday that the Trump administration couldn鈥檛 take over Oregon鈥檚 National Guard to deploy them on the streets of Portland. When the administration tried to get around that ruling hours later by calling up California National Guard troops instead, Judge Immergut quickly shut that down, saying the move was 鈥渋n direct contravention鈥� of her earlier decision.聽

The developments left the president and his team apoplectic.聽

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller blasted the first ruling as 鈥渓egal insurrection鈥� and went even further after the second. 鈥淎 district court judge has no conceivable authority, whatsoever, to restrict the President and Commander-in-Chief from dispatching members of the U.S. military to defend federal lives and property,鈥� he , calling the ruling 鈥渙ne of the most egregious and thunderous violations of constitutional order we have ever seen.鈥�

It鈥檚 not the only battle that鈥檚 taking place in the streets 鈥撀燼nd courtrooms 鈥撀爋f a major American city. Illinois and Chicago filed their own lawsuit on Monday seeking to block the Trump administration from deploying Texas and Illinois National Guard troops in their state, calling the move 鈥減atently unlawful.鈥� A federal judge declined to immediately block the deployment, but told the administration to 鈥渟trongly consider taking a pause鈥� until a hearing scheduled for Thursday.

These court fights, along with the increasingly heated rhetoric, mark the latest escalation in Mr. Trump鈥檚 effort to normalize the use of the U.S. military in domestic settings while putting pressure on both the judicial branch and resistant Democratic-led states.

The administration is taking actions previously unseen in American cities by claiming an emergency around unauthorized immigration and public safety, sending in waves of federal agents, and citing the need to protect them from local protesters. The moves have triggered confrontations with the courts.

Gerard Magliocca, a Supreme Court historian and constitutional scholar at Indiana University鈥檚 law school, says the current level of conflict between the presidency and judiciary is 鈥渦nprecedented in peacetime鈥� in U.S. history.聽

The reason so many of the Trump administration鈥檚 moves have been paused by lower-court judges is that many of them have little or no historic or legal precedent, says Professor Magliocca. The judges want to pause those actions as they consider their legal merits, he says.

Further escalation may be around the corner.

President Trump falsely claimed on Sunday that Portland 鈥渋s burning to the ground,鈥� and that 鈥渋nsurrectionists鈥� 鈥撀燼 term he has used repeatedly in recent days 鈥撀爓ere behind it.聽

The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the president to federalize National Guard units and nationally deploy the U.S. military, but only during specific circumstances, including insurrection and armed rebellion. So that term 鈥渋nsurrection鈥� has a specific legal connotation. When asked on Monday if he plans to invoke the Insurrection Act, President Trump said that he鈥檇 consider it.

鈥淚鈥檇 do it if it were necessary. So far, it hasn鈥檛 been necessary. But we have an Insurrection Act for a reason,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f people were being killed, if courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I'd do that."

Democrats worry that鈥檚 been the plan all along.

鈥淭his escalation of violence is targeted and intentional and premeditated. The Trump administration is following a playbook: Cause chaos, create fear and confusion, make it seem like peaceful protesters are a mob by firing gas pellets and tear gas canisters at them,鈥� Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday at a news conference. 鈥淲hy? To create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act so that he can send military troops to our city.鈥�

Mr. Trump鈥檚 allies in the legal community say lower-court judges have repeatedly overstepped their authority in thwarting the president. The temporary restraining orders are just their latest frustration.

鈥淭he issue is that judges are issuing snap judgments,鈥� says Josh Blackman, a professor of South Texas College of Law Houston and a senior editor of the Heritage Foundation鈥檚 The Heritage Guide to the Constitution.聽

In the Portland case, 鈥淭he court just doesn鈥檛 trust the Trump administration. The administration said they need this [deployment] because of the protests at the ICE facility in Oregon,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he protection of federal facilities shouldn鈥檛 need the permission of a judge.鈥�

Aziz Huq, a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago and board member of the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, disagrees. The law 鈥渞equires good faith鈥� to prove that the conditions are being met to declare an emergency, he says.聽

鈥淢erely asserting that something is the case when it is plainly not is [not] a meaningful compliance with the law,鈥� he says. Otherwise, 鈥渢he White House or the government could say 鈥榓nything that we think is rebellion is rebellion.鈥欌��

While Mr. Trump has repeatedly faced pushback from lower court judges, the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices he appointed, has so far been more amenable to his approach.

The court has made numerous 鈥渟hadow docket鈥� orders over the past year that have reversed lower-court decisions. It allowed the Trump administration鈥檚 sweeping deportation efforts to continue unimpeded, including permitting racial profiling in ICE stops, and continuing mass deportations to countries other than where immigrants came from.聽

It has allowed Mr. Trump to fire scores of federal employees, including those in parts of the executive branch previously considered independent agencies, and overturned a nearly century-old precedent limiting presidential power. And it barred lower-court judges from issuing universal injunctions that had previously blocked presidents of both parties from taking actions nationwide until it was determined whether those actions were legal.

The Supreme Court began its new term on Monday, with weighty topics including the Trump administration鈥檚 attempts to end birthright citizenship, a legal precedent that has existed in the U.S. for more than a century.

The Portland and Chicago cases may find their way to the court on an emergency basis as well.

鈥淭hese cases will invariably be appealed to the Supreme Court, and they will rubber-stamp what the president is doing,鈥� predicts Marjorie Cohn, a professor emeritus at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego and former president of the National Lawyers Guild.

Professor Cohn says that the constitutional order is still in place 鈥� but it is growing weaker under pressure from the Trump administration. 鈥淭he separation of powers still apply, though the line is getting fainter between the three branches,鈥� she warns.

Democratic leaders of the cities and states targeted by the Trump administration are sounding the alarm.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek called President Trump鈥檚 actions 鈥渁n effort to occupy and incite cities and states that don鈥檛 share his politics.鈥� California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned in that 鈥淎merica is on the brink of martial law.鈥�

鈥淒onald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation's cities,鈥� Governor Pritzker said Monday afternoon as several hundred Guard troops from Texas prepared to fly to Chicago, calling it an 鈥渦nconstitutional invasion of Illinois by the federal government.鈥�

The Chicago deployment follows weeks of heavy ICE presence and controversial tactics across the city, including a middle-of-the-night raid of an apartment building in which agents reportedly zip-tied and detained dozens of U.S. citizens, including children. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem later promoted that raid tagged with the comment 鈥淐hicago, we鈥檙e here for you.鈥澛�

ICE agents have also repeatedly clashed with protesters outside a facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, with injuries reported to clergy members, politicians, and reporters. Over the weekend, federal agents said they fired 鈥渄efensive shots鈥� that injured a woman after they were rammed and boxed in by vehicles, . An attorney for the woman who was shot聽 that it was federal agents who had rammed her. On Monday, a coalition of journalists ICE and DHS for using excessive force against them.

In Portland, recent confrontations between protesters and federal law enforcement appear more verbal than physical. Since June, demonstrations have fluctuated in size outside the ICE field office in Portland, where officers have at times fired onto the crowd with irritants like pepper-spray balls.

In a court filing, the Justice Department claimed protesters have assaulted federal law enforcement with "rocks, bricks, pepper spray and incendiary devices" at the facility, and have impeded the entry and exit of vehicles. The Portland Police Bureau says it has made in the area 鈥渟ince the nightly protests began鈥� four months ago. The activity appears confined, more or less, to one city block.

Staff writers Sarah Matusek in Portland, Oregon, and Simon Montlake in Boston聽contributed to this report.