A federal appeals court on Wednesday lifted a judge’s order blocking President Trump from calling Oregon National Guard troops into federal service, but he still may not deploy them, for now.
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 Department of Defense 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).
The city and state officials argued in court filings Sunday opposing the temporary pause of Immergut’s order that the directive was part of a “nationwide campaign to assimilate the military into civilian law enforcement.”
“Defendants’ actions infringe on Oregon’s sovereign power to manage its own law enforcement activity and its own National Guard and cause economic and other harms to the city of Portland,” they wrote. “What is worse, they do so based entirely on inaccurate information.”
After Immergut blocked the Oregon troops’ deployment, California and Oregon officials said the Trump administration planned to deploy 200 or 300 California National Guard members to Portland, alongside some Texas National Guard members.
“Trump’s abuse of power won’t stand,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) wrote on the social platform X late Sunday.
The Trump administration also directed up to 400 Texas National Guard members to mobilize for deployment to Portland, Chicago and “where needed,” according to a Defense Department memorandum filed in the lawsuit.
Illinois officials on Monday sued over Trump’s efforts to send troops into the city, both from Texas and by calling up some 300 Illinois National Guard members into federal service. They’ve asked a judge to block Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in the state, as well.
The National Guard has also been called up in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., where legal challenges have also been mounted.
Updated: 5:12 p.m.
