Court Lifts Oregon Guard Ruling, but Deployment Ban Remains (1)

A federal appeals court says the Trump administration can maintain control of the Oregon National Guard while the state’s legal case against the effort proceeds, but the administration is still blocked from deploying troops in the state for now.

A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary ruling late Wednesday that seeks to “preserve the status quo” while a lawsuit filed by state leaders plays out. The panel is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Thursday over the White House’s request to pause a lower court order that had blocked the president from federalizing Oregon’s National Guard.

“The effect of granting an administrative stay preserves the status quo in which National Guard members have been federalized but not deployed,” the judges said in the ruling.

State National Guard troops are under the control of individual governors, but the administration argues that the president has the authority to federalize the troops under a US law that allows such a move in the event of a “rebellion” or “invasion.” Leaders in Oregon sued to block the move, arguing that the president lacks authority to federalize troops in this case because his assessment of the situation on the ground in Portland is inaccurate.

“Today’s order from the 9th Circuit doesn’t change anything on the ground,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement. “While it keeps the Oregon National Guard under federal status, most importantly, it prevents the President from deploying the guard in Portland.”

Read More: Trump Gets Fresh Chance to Fight Judge He Picked in Oregon

Judge Karin Immergut in Portland issued a temporary order blocking Trump’s efforts to federalize the troops. In response, the president sought to circumvent the order by sending troops to Portland from California and Texas instead. After an emergency hearing, the judge issued a second temporary order blocking the deployment of troops to Oregon from anywhere in the country.

The appeals court said its Wednesday ruling only applies to the initial order that blocked Trump’s effort to take control of Oregon National Guard troops. The federal government has not appealed the second order, so the deployment of state troops to Oregon will remain blocked.

The case is State of Oregon v. Trump, 25-6268, US Court of Appeals (9th Circuit).

(Updates with statement from Oregon Attorney General)

--With assistance from Erik Larson.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Madlin Mekelburg in Austin at mmekelburg@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net

Anthony Aarons, Steve Stroth

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