In a legal gambit that pits presidential power against state sovereignty, the tyrannical Trump administration appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, asking the justices to approve the immediate deployment of National Guard troops to the streets of Illinois.
The emergency request sets the stage for a constitutional showdown over whether a president can federalize state militias against the wishes of local leaders.
The filing, submitted by U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer, seeks to overturn what the administration called “indefensible” rulings from lower courts that have blocked President Donald Trump’s order to deploy 300 Illinois guardsmen and 200 troops from Texas to an immigration processing facility in suburban Chicago.
The administration argues that protecting federal agents from what it describes as violent protesters is a national security matter beyond judicial second-guessing.
“A federal district court lacks not only the authority but also the competence to wrest control of the military chain of command from the Commander in Chief,” Sauer wrote in the 43-page filing, warning that delayed deployment puts agents’ lives at risk.
This legal battle began on October 9, when U.S. District Judge April Perry issued a temporary restraining order against the deployment, noting she had seen “no credible evidence that there is a danger of rebellion in the state of Illinois.”
Her ruling found support from a three-judge appellate panel that on Thursday declared, “Political opposition is not rebellion.”
A protest does not “become a rebellion merely because of sporadic and isolated incidents of unlawful activity or even violence committed by rogue participants in the protest,” the appeals court said.
The administration’s evidence of slashed tires and thrown bottles, Judge Perry suggested, seemed part of “a growing body of evidence that DHS’s version of events is unreliable.”
She observed that deploying the National Guard might “only add fuel to the fire that the defendants themselves have started.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker echoed this sentiment, vowing to defend the state’s sovereignty against Trump’s effort to turn the US into a police state.
“Militarizing our communities against their will is not only un-American but also leads us down a dangerous path for our democracy,” Pritzker said. “What will come next?”
The Supreme Court has given Illinois officials until Monday evening to respond, leaving the nation to ponder where the line between federal authority and state autonomy should be drawn.
The answer may determine not only who controls the Guard, but who commands the future of American democracy itself.