A court in West Virginia is set to hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging the deployment of the state National Guard to patrol the streets of Washington, D.C., as part of President Donald Trump’s push to send the military into Democratic-run cities.
The hearing, scheduled for Monday afternoon, is the third in the past three weeks in Charleston concerning the state’s response to Trump’s crime-fighting efforts. These efforts have sparked a whirlwind of lawsuits and overlapping court rulings.
West Virginia is among several states that sent National Guard members starting in August to the nation’s capital. While the state National Guard has said its deployment could last until the end of November, it is consulting with the governor’s office and others on the possibility of extending the stay. Formal orders were issued last week extending the deployment of the Washington D.C. National Guard in the city through the end of February.
A civic organization called the West Virginia Citizen Action Group has filed a lawsuit arguing that Governor Patrick Morrisey exceeded his authority by deploying up to 300 Guard members to Washington, D.C. Under state law, the group contends, the governor may deploy the National Guard out of state only for certain purposes, such as responding to a natural disaster or another state’s emergency request. Morrisey’s office, however, maintains that the deployment was authorized under federal law.
At an initial hearing last month, the civic group claimed it was harmed by the deployment because it had to refocus its resources away from its core mission of government accountability and transparency. The state attorney general’s office sought to dismiss the case, arguing that the group has not been harmed and lacks standing to challenge Morrisey’s decision.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Richard Lindsay continued that hearing after asking attorneys for the state to specifically address whether the deployment was lawful. Following testimony from one witness for the plaintiff group on November 3, Lindsay again continued the case.
Despite President Trump issuing an executive order in August declaring a crime emergency in the nation’s capital, the U.S. Justice Department reports that violent crime in Washington, D.C., is at a 30-year low. Within a month, more than 2,300 Guard troops from eight states and the district were patrolling under the Army secretary’s command. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist them.
Separately, a federal judge heard arguments on October 24 regarding District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s request for an order to remove National Guard members from the streets of Washington. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, did not issue a ruling from the bench.
https://ktar.com/national-news/judge-to-ponder-challenge-to-west-virginia-national-guard-deployment-in-the-nations-capital/5773590/
