Members of the Texas National Guard stand guard at an Army Reserve training facility on October 7, 2025 in Elwood, Illinois.
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The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow it to deploy National Guard troops to Illinois after lower courts blocked the deployment.
As legal challenges to President Trump’s campaign to send military forces to Democratic-led cities make their way through several courts, the administration’s appeal to the Supreme Court marks the first time the justices have been asked to weigh in on the issue.
In the appeal filed by the Ministry of Justice on Friday, Attorney General Dr. John Sawyer said troops were needed in the Chicago area to “prevent ongoing and intolerable risks to the lives and safety” of federal agents. The appeal comes a day after a federal judge rejected Trump’s attempt to deploy troops in Illinois. Sawyer said the judge’s ruling “improperly impinges on the president’s authority and needlessly endangers federal employees and property.”
Trump has been arguing that Chicago is lawless and needs military intervention to quell protests and protect federal immigration facilities, and he federalized the state’s National Guard against the wishes of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker earlier this month. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott also sent several hundred of his state troops to the Democratic-led state.
Vice President J.D. Vance said in an ABC interview that the Trump administration “will litigate as much as we can.” this week Sunday. “We believe we have the authority to provide appropriate safety for our citizens across the United States, but especially in Chicago.”
The Supreme Court asked Illinois and Chicago officials to respond to the administration’s arguments by Monday evening.
President Trump has implemented, or attempted to implement, similar plans in other cities while claiming that federal intervention is necessary to reduce crime rates. Leaders in many of those cities said military force was unnecessary and accused the president of exceeding his authority to undertake such a deployment.
The president is currently locked in a legal battle with the state of California, after deploying about 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell anti-ICE protests. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Trump violated the law by not consulting with Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Last month, Trump authorized National Guard troops to go to Memphis to deal with what he said were “massive levels” of crime in the city. He is also suing the city of Portland, Oregon, after trying to send troops there to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities that he said were attacked. The judge issued a ban on publication.
In August, Trump deployed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., after issuing a state of crime emergency that lasted about a month. Shortly before the state of emergency ended, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that the city had established an emergency center Beautiful and safe emergency operations center To manage and continue its relationship with federal law enforcement authorities. The office is responsible, in part, for communicating DC’s requests to federal agents, such as not wearing masks, clearly identifying themselves during arrests and interacting with the public.
Trump, eyeing future troop deployments, said Baltimore, New York, New Orleans, St. Louis, Missouri, Oakland and San Francisco are next.