Appeals Court Hears Challenge to National Guard Deployment in D.C.; No Timetable for a Ruling
A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court has heard arguments over the legality of the Trump administration's National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., with no clear timetable for a decision. After the hearing, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb stepped outside the courthouse and reiterated to reporters his opposition to out-of-state troops remaining on the capital's streets.
Schwalb said that for more than a year, thousands of National Guard members from other states have patrolled Washington's streets, appearing near schools, in residential neighborhoods and beside ballot drop boxes, stirring public unease. In court he cited a viral video of Guard members standing immediately next to a mail ballot drop box set up for the midterm elections. The D.C. Board of Elections has formally asked the Guard to keep at least 50 feet from all drop boxes before Election Day so a military presence is not read as voter intimidation.
The deployment tensions have also spilled into neighborhood streets. On Wednesday, residents joined D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto in a protest outside Barr Elementary School in the southeast against Guard activity around the school, and nearby residents held a community hearing on the issue that evening.
The Trump administration, for its part, stressed that violent crime in Washington has fallen markedly since the deployment began, a change the mayor previously acknowledged. Government lawyers also cited precedents of the Guard supporting disaster relief and pandemic response as grounds for the deployment. The D.C. Guard deployment case continues to work through the courts.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：国民警卫队队员在华盛顿Union Station一带执勤（资料图）。照片：美国国防部／Wikimedia Commons（公有领域）。National Guard troops on duty near Union Station in Washington (file photo). Photo: U.S. Department of Defense / Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
