December 4, 2025 / 9:23 PM EST / CBS/AP
A federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily paused a lower court ruling that had ordered an end to the deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C.
In a one-page order, a panel of appellate judges issued an administrative stay to give them more time to consider the issue, saying the move “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion.” The Trump administration has asked for a longer-term pause of U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb’s ruling.
Cobb concluded last month that President Trump’s military deployment in the nation’s capital — a mix of D.C. National Guard forces and Guard troops from other states — illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the district. She found the president may protect federal functioning and property, but cannot unilaterally deploy the D.C. National Guard to assist with crime control or call up troops from other states for that purpose. She put her order on hold for 21 days to allow the administration to appeal.
The administration called Cobb’s ruling a “wholly unjustified incursion into the territory of both the President and Congress” in its appeals filing last week. “As we have always maintained, the President exercised his lawful authority to deploy the National Guard to D.C. We look forward to ultimate vindication on this issue,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Associated Press.
In August, Mr. Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington. Within a month, more than 2,300 National Guard troops from eight states and the District were patrolling the city under the command of the Secretary of the Army. Mr. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist in patrols.
District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued to challenge the deployments and asked the judge to bar the White House from deploying Guard troops without the mayor’s consent while the lawsuit proceeds. Schwalb’s office was not immediately available for comment on Thursday’s stay.
The court action comes eight days after two West Virginia National Guard members, Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, were ambushed while patrolling a subway station three blocks from the White House. Beckstrom died on Nov. 27 from her injuries; Wolfe continues to recover. Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national identified as the suspect and who was also shot during the confrontation, has been charged with murder and has pleaded not guilty.
The administration has requested an additional 500 National Guard members for Washington following the shooting. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced she was sending 100 military members as part of that buildup.
The administration has also deployed Guard troops to Los Angeles and sought to send troops into Chicago and Portland, prompting other court challenges. A federal appeals court allowed the Los Angeles deployment, and the administration is appealing a judge’s decision in Portland that found the president did not have the authority to call up or deploy National Guard troops there.