⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The D.C. Circuit considers President Trump's deployment of National Guard troops in Washington. In August 2025, he ordered the D.C. Guard mobilized to deter crime and directed coordination with governors to bring in additional troops. Guard members began patrolling Metro stations, downtown and residential neighborhoods. The District sued, saying the deployments exceeded the powers Congress had granted. A federal district judge issued a preliminary injunction, a temporary order blocking the deployments. A different appeals panel put that order on hold in December 2025 while the government's appeal proceeded; it did not finally settle the case. D.C. is unusual: the President, not a governor, commands its Guard. The dispute is what deployments that command relationship permits, and whether D.C. has shown irreparable harm, meaning harm that later relief would not adequately remedy. The government also invokes Title thirty-two, section five-oh-two, subsection F, which permits training and other Guard duty, including support for missions requested by the President or Defense Secretary. Title thirty-two duty generally provides federal funding without putting Guard members into federal active-duty status. You will also hear the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts using the federal armed forces for civilian law enforcement unless the Constitution or Congress authorizes it. The district court did not decide whether these deployments violated that act. Eric McArthur of the Justice Department will argue that D.C.'s militia laws and federal law authorize the mission.

DC v. Donald Trump (No. 25-5418) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, argued October 14, 2026.