The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that President Donald Trump can deploy the Oregon National Guard to Portland to protect an ICE facility amid protests against the federal agency in the city.
“As we have always maintained, President Trump is exercising his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel following violent riots that local leaders have refused to address. This ruling reaffirms that the lower court’s ruling was unlawful and incorrect,” Abigail Jackson, White House spokeswoman, told The Daily Wire in a statement on Monday.
The Texas National Guard is still unable to be deployed to the city, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
“Finally, the proportionate response to the events in Portland further support that the President likely invoked [the law] lawfully and in good faith,” Judge Ryan Nelson, who was appointed by Trump, wrote in a concurring opinion in the case.
“A grossly disproportionate response could suggest that the executive might be acting pretextually, rather than in response to [the law’s] enumerated predicates,” he added.
However, Senior Judge Susan Graber, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, strongly disagreed with the ruling, saying that “no legal or factual justification” existed to send in the Oregon National Guard.
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“Given Portland protesters’ well-known penchant for wearing chicken suits, inflatable frog costumes, or nothing at all when expressing their disagreement with the methods employed by ICE, observers may be tempted to view the majority’s ruling, which accepts the government’s characterization of Portland as a war zone, as merely absurd. But today’s decision is not merely absurd,” Graber wrote.
“It erodes core constitutional principles, including sovereign States’ control over their States’ militias and the people’s First Amendment rights to assemble and to object to the government’s policies and actions. I strenuously dissent,” she continued.
Protests have been going on in the city since June, including over the weekend when federal law enforcement used tear gas, according to KATU.
“At the request of Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists,” Trump posted to Truth Social in September.
“I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he added.
Similar protests led to National Guard deployment in Los Angeles over the summer, which led to an intense legal battle.
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