WASHINGTON – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Thursday issued a temporary pause on a lower court ruling that would have required an end to National Guard deployments in Washington, D.C. The brief order from the appeals court emphasized that the pause was strictly administrative, allowing judges additional time to review the Trump administration’s request for a longer stay while the legal fight continues.
The ruling halts the implementation of U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb’s November 20 decision, which held that President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital constituted an unlawful intrusion into the authority of local officials to manage law enforcement within the district. Cobb concluded that, while presidents may act to protect federal operations and property, they cannot unilaterally direct the D.C. National Guard for general crime control or mobilize Guard units from other states for that purpose. She had already delayed her own order for 21 days to allow the administration to appeal, but Thursday’s stay is expected to extend the timeline well beyond that window.
The White House responded by defending its actions, asserting that the president acted within his constitutional authority. A spokesperson repeated the administration’s long-standing position that the deployments were lawful and necessary amid rising security concerns.
The legal battle stems from an executive order Trump issued in August declaring a crime emergency in Washington. Within weeks, more than 2,300 National Guard members from eight states and D.C. were stationed throughout the city under the authority of the Secretary of the Army. The administration also dispatched federal agents to assist with patrols and enforcement operations.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed suit to stop the deployments, arguing that the federal government cannot override the district’s leadership and deploy Guard troops without the mayor’s consent. His office has not commented on the appeals court’s temporary stay.
The dispute in Washington is part of a broader national conflict over the president’s use of National Guard forces. The administration has deployed troops to Los Angeles and made attempts to dispatch them to Chicago and Portland, Oregon—efforts that have triggered similar legal challenges. A federal appeals court upheld the Los Angeles deployment, while the administration is appealing a separate ruling that blocked the Portland action.
The court’s intervention comes just over a week after two West Virginia National Guard members—Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe—were ambushed while patrolling a subway station near the White House. Beckstrom died from her injuries on November 27, and Wolfe remains hospitalized but is recovering. An Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who was also shot during the confrontation, has been charged with murder and has pleaded not guilty.
In the wake of the attack, the administration has requested an additional 500 National Guard troops for deployment in Washington. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced earlier this week that she would send 100 Guard members from her state to support the expanded security effort.