By Darren Lyn
HOUSTON, United States (AA) - Illinois and Oregon on Thursday are battling in federal court regarding the legality of President Donald Trump sending National Guard troops to their respective states.
Trump deployed guardsmen to Democratic-controlled cities in multiple states to quell protests that he claimed justified the use of military force, going as far as calling demonstrators in Portland "insurrectionists."
Attorneys for Illinois and Oregon argued that the protests in the cities of Chicago and Portland did not warrant the deployment of the National Guard.
"There is no rebellion in Illinois," Christopher Wells, a lawyer from the Illinois attorney general’s office, said in a statement, accusing the Trump administration of disregarding the conditions on the ground.
In Illinois, a federal judge in Chicago is considering whether to impose a temporary block on the deployment of 200 National Guard troops from the state of Texas, who arrived in Illinois earlier this week and were expected to begin guarding an immigration facility. In addition, Trump has ordered the federalization of 300 Illinois guardsmen.
A three-judge appeals court panel in San Francisco is considering a similar case that will decide whether to lift a similar ban in Oregon that was imposed by a federal judge in Portland, where Trump had ordered the federalization of 200 Oregon guardsmen and the deployment of 300 guardsmen from California.
Trump administration lawyers have argued that the courts cannot review the president's executive deployment decisions at all.
Stacy Chaffin, who is representing Oregon before the Ninth Circuit appeals court, argued that the usual policy of deference did not apply if the president’s assessment of the situation in Portland was "untethered from reality."
Closing arguments for both cases wrapped up early Thursday. Court proceedings will resume in the late afternoon, but a ruling in the cases might not come until Friday, or possibly next week, according to media reports.
Legal experts said the decisions made in both cases will have far-ranging implications for the use of military power on US soil.
As it stands right now, troops from California and Oregon are in position outside Portland but have been blocked from entering the city, on the order of a Trump-appointed judge who ruled that the president’s actions appeared to be unconstitutional.
Federally activated troops in Illinois are preparing to join the Texas National Guard members in the Chicago area this weekend, if the judge in that case does not block their deployment.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said the use of military troops is not necessary and called Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to his state an "unconstitutional invasion of Illinois by the federal government."