CHICAGO – Today, the Supreme Court upheld the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s decision blocking the Trump administration's attempt to deploy 500 members of the Illinois and Texas National Guards in Illinois.
In the 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court recognized that deployment of the military to “execute the laws” is “exceptional” and held that the government “failed to identify a source of authority” that would permit it in Illinois.
The following can be attributed to Kevin Fee, Legal Director at the ACLU of Illinois:
“The Court’s ruling cuts through the Administration’s manufactured rationale for sending National Guard troops into the Chicagoland area,” said Kevin Fee, Legal Director of the ACLU of Illinois. “As the District Court and Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit made clear, the Administration has no coherent fact-based justification to deploy these forces. The Administration’s account of the conditions on the ground in Chicagoland is pure fantasy.