A federal judge who was nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump has permanently blocked the 47th president from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, in response to demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in that city.
U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut, who issued a preliminary injunction last month preventing the president’s troop order, ruled Friday that Trump overstepped his authority by federalizing Oregon’s National Guard soldiers.
President Trump nominated Judge Immergut to the federal bench in 2018 during his first term.
The permanent ruling stems from a lawsuit brought by the Sates of Oregon and California and the City of Portland.
Government lawyers for the Trump administration had argued that the often-violent protests at the ICE building disrupted officers who were trying to carry out immigration enforcement and represented a rebellion against the United States of America.
The New York Times reported:
In her final 106-page ruling, Judge Immergut rejected arguments from government lawyers that protests at the ICE building made it impossible for federal officers to carry out immigration enforcement, represented a rebellion or raised the threat of rebellion.
“The evidence demonstrates that these deployments, which were objected to by Oregon’s governor and not requested by the federal officials in charge of protection of the ICE building, exceeded the president’s authority,” she wrote.
The judge also disputed the president’s claim that Antifa, at least in Portland, is an organized group working against the U.S. government, also stating that testimony from ICE’s regional director about damage to the building and how disruptive the protests were was not believable.
Just how disruptive or violent the protests are often depends on which news outlets are covering the nightly demonstrations, which began in early June after the administration’s crackdown on and rounding up of criminal illegal aliens.
As Breitbart News reported late last month, unruly crowds and brawls can very much be in play at the site, especially when counter-demonstrators show up.
Other confrontations have resulted in the use of tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray balls.
In late September, President Trump announced the need for guard troops in Portland, but Oregon’s Democrat Gov. Tina Kotek declined to activate the requested 200 troops. The Trump administration responded by federalizing the soldiers.
According to the Times coverage:
Under Title 10 of the U.S. Code, a president may use the National Guard on U.S. soil in only three circumstances: a foreign invasion; a rebellion, or threat of a rebellion; or if the laws of the nation cannot be enforced with existing resources. During a three-day trial late last month, administration lawyers argued that the last two conditions applied in Oregon.
In her final ruling, Judge Immergut disagreed on both counts.
Federal lawyers have already said that if Judge Immergut ruled against them, they would appeal to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
The administration has filed an emergency appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court on a similar National Guard case involving Illinois.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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