Press Release  AG Campbell Joins Opposition To Trump's Unlawful Deployment Of National Guard To Chicago

BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell joined a coalition of 24 attorneys general and governors in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, supporting Illinois’s challenge to President Trump’s unlawful, unconstitutional, and undemocratic deployment of the National Guard without approval from the state’s governor. The brief argues that the President’s actions violate the law and threaten state sovereignty and core constitutional principles of federalism. 

In recent months, the Trump administration has repeatedly ordered the National Guard into communities throughout the country to usurp the role of local law enforcement – first California, then Washington, D.C., recently Oregon, and now Illinois. The coalition’s brief makes clear that this violates the Constitution and federal law. 

“The Trump Administration’s weaponization of the National Guard, including against American citizens, is designed to provoke disorder, silence dissent, and instill fear,” said AG Campbell. “This federal interference significantly undermines local law enforcement and its efforts to build trust and advance public safety. I stand firmly with Illinois in resisting this egregious abuse of power.” 

Yesterday, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, on an administrative motion, temporarily allowed the Trump Administration to federalize the National Guard, but it denied the Trump Administration’s request to deploy the National Guard to Illinois. The case now continues before the Seventh Circuit, with the Trump Administration requesting it be allowed to deploy the National Guard to Chicago. AG Campbell and the coalition urge the appeals court to reject the Trump Administration’s request. 

In their brief, the coalition explains that the Trump Administration’s use of federal troops in civilian communities (which have ballooned in scope and duration across several democratically led cities) is unlawful and harms both public safety and trust. The filing warns that turning the military into a domestic police force would blur the line between civilian and military power — the very abuse our country’s founders sought to prevent when creating our democracy. 

Joining AG Campbell in filing the brief are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The governors of Kansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania also joined the filing. 

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