Judge Blocks National Guard Deployment in Illinois

With Texas National Guard troops already on the streets of Chicago, a federal judge has temporarily blocked their deployment. US District Judge April Perry said the deployment violated the 10th and 14th Amendments, as well as the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the use of the military for law enforcement, NBC Chicago reports. Perry issued a temporary restraining order Thursday blocking the deployment of National Guard troops in Illinois for 14 days, reports CNN. Her order bars the Trump administration from deploying federalized National Guard troops from any state to any location in Illinois, reports the Chicago Tribune.

The Department of Homeland Security's "perception of events are simply unreliable," she said, per Chicago Sun-Times reporter Jon Seidel. "I have seen no credible evidence that there is danger of rebellion in the state of Illinois." In her remarks, Perry referenced Alexander Hamilton, saying America's founders "would never believe that it would ever come to pass that one state militia could be sent to another state for the purposes of political retribution." She also expressed concern about sending in troops unfamiliar with Chicago's "fairly nuanced" history of strained community-police relations, the New York Times reports. "It's something that I think the state and local authorities understand extremely well, and it can be hard for federal authorities, and certainly those from Texas, to appreciate," she said.

During Thursday's hearing in a lawsuit filed by Chicago and the state, Perry appeared skeptical of the administration's justification for deploying troops, NBC Chicago reports. Her questions included "Where is the rebellion?" and "What if the DHS folks are not tethered to reality? Does that matter?" She disagreed with Justice Department attorney Eric Hamilton's argument that the court only needed to determine that there was the danger of a rebellion, CNN reports. He argued that Chicago is "seeing a brazen new form of hostility from rioters targeting federal law enforcement." When Perry asked if the troops would only be stationed around federal buildings, Hamilton said they would also "protect ICE agents" in the field.

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"This case is replete with evidence of bad faith, of an abandonment of public virtue, of a lack of honest devotion to the public interest and a grave risk of usurpation or wanton tyranny," attorney Christopher Wells from the state attorney's office said in his closing argument, per the Chicago Tribune. Hamilton argued that the deployment was a response to an "urgent and serious ongoing threat to officer safety and to the protection of property," citing assaults and threats against federal agents.

• The AP reports that in a lighter moment during the hearing, Perry was curious about federal attorneys' claims that a federal agent had his beard "ripped off" during a protest. "OK, so you have some facial hair," she said, gesturing at a lawyer's beard. "How does that happen? Was, was it a real beard?"