The temporary, administrative stay puts U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut’s order halting Trump’s federalization of the National Guard members on hold while the appeals court weighs whether to extend the pause as it considers the administration’s appeal. But it keeps in place her second order barring the president from sending the troops anywhere in the state.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit wrote in a brief order Wednesday that the decision best preserves the “status quo.”
“The effect of granting an administrative stay preserves the status quo in which National Guard members have been federalized but not deployed,” they wrote.
The panel — made up of two Trump appointees and an appointee of President Clinton — will hear arguments Thursday about whether to pause Immergut’s order until ruling on the administration’s appeal.
The Trump administration had urged the appeals court to act by Monday, contending Immergut “impermissibly second-guessed” Trump’s military judgments.
“The district court’s order improperly impinges on the Commander in Chiefs supervision of military operations, countermands a military directive to officers in the field and endangers federal personnel and property,” DOJ lawyers wrote in Sunday court filings.
Immergut ruled Friday that Trump’s reasoning for calling up the National Guard troops in Portland, Ore. was “simply untethered to the facts” and temporarily barred implementation of a Defense Department memorandum authorizing federalization and deployment of 200 federalized Oregon troops.
But the president then moved to send hundreds of federalized troops from California and Texas to Portland instead. At a hearing Sunday night, Immergut questioned how the move was not “in direct contravention” of her earlier order.
California joined Oregon’s legal bid to keep the federalized troops out of Portland, and Immergut granted their request to block Trump from deploying any National Guard units to Oregon at all. That order remains in effect.
Oregon and Portland officials jointly sued the Trump administration last month after the president vowed to protect the “war-ravaged” city and its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices he described as “under siege.”
Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued the memo authorizing deployment and federalization of 200 Oregon National Guard members the next day, despite objection from Oregon Governor Tina Kotek (D).
Read the full report at thehill.com.
