By Matthew Vadum
Contributing Writer
A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that President Donald Trump may deploy National Guard troops to deal with violence directed against federal immigration facilities in Portland while the case works its way through the lower courts.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit voted 2-1 to stay an Oct. 4 order of U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut of Oregon, who blocked a move by Trump to deploy members of the Oregon National Guard to Portland.
The panel, consisting of Circuit Judges Ryan Nelson, Bridget Bade and Susan Graber, heard oral arguments in the case in San Francisco on Oct. 9.
“Defendants are likely to succeed on the merits of their appeal, and … other stay factors weigh in their favor. We grant defendants’ motion for a stay pending appeal,” the panel said in its new order.
Responding to a lawsuit filed by Oregon, Immergut had issued a temporary restraining order directing the Trump administration not to deploy federalized National Guard troops to Oregon. A president may take over, or federalize, state National Guard troops on an emergency basis in certain circumstances. The order was set to expire on Oct. 18.
In her order, Immergut noted that Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sept. 27 that he was sending troops “to protect war ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”
The judge held Trump was not legally entitled to federalize the Oregon National Guard and that the situation in Portland was not as dire as the federal government claimed.
On Oct. 8, the same Ninth Circuit panel restored Trump’s control over Oregon National Guard troops but said he may not deploy them for the time being. The panel granted what lawyers call an administrative stay of Immergut’s order, which gives the circuit court judges more time to consider the federal government’s emergency appeal.
