The state of Illinois and city of Chicago filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block the Trump administration from deploying federalized National Guard troops into Chicago, arguing that such action violates both state sovereignty and the U.S. Constitution. Illinois and Chicago are asking the court to declare the administration’s order to federalize and deploy National Guard units — from Illinois or any other state — unconstitutional and/or unlawful.
The dispute in Illinois is part of a broader legal fight over Trump’s use of federalized troops. Earlier this year, a California judge ruled that the deployment of Marines and National Guard members to Los Angeles was unlawful, while Washington, D.C.’s attorney general has also filed suit challenging similar actions in the capital.
In the 69-page complaint — which names President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll as defendants — the Illinois Attorney General’s Office asserts that “The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor.”
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs state: “there is no insurrection in Illinois. There is no rebellion in Illinois. The federal government is able to enforce federal law in Illinois. The manufactured nature of the crisis is clear,” adding that the administration’s actions “have already subjected, and continue to subject, Illinois to serious and irreparable harm.”
The lawsuit goes on to argue that the federal government is overstepping its authority: “The Federalization Order’s deployment of federalized military forces to protect federal personal and property from ‘violent demonstrations’ that ‘are occurring or are likely to occur’ represents the exact type of intrusion on State power that is at the heart of the Tenth Amendment ..The deployment of federalized National Guard, including from another state, infringes on Illinois’s sovereignty and right to self-governance. It will cause only more unrest, including harming social fabric and community relations and increasing the mistrust of police. It also creates economic harm, depressing business activities and tourism that not only hurt Illinoisians but also hurt Illinois’s tax revenue.”
Officials at the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Army declined or did not respond to requests for comment; and the Pentagon also refused to weigh in on the lawsuit. The White House dismissed the claims, insisting that the president’s authority to deploy federal forces is lawful. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement: “Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like [Illinois Gov. JB] Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has authorized 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets.”
The complaint also accuses Trump of using federal law enforcement to intimidate communities and inflame tensions in Illinois, including through aggressive immigration enforcement operations near Chicago: “among other things, Trump and Noem have sent a surge of SWAT-tactic trained federal agents to Illinois to use unprecedented, brute force tactics for civil immigration enforcement; federal agents have repeatedly shot chemical munitions at groups that included media and legal observers outside the Broadview facility; and dozens of masked, armed federal agents have paraded through downtown Chicago in a show of force and control. The community’s horror at these tactics and their significant consequences have resulted in entirely foreseeable protests.”
Governor Pritzker said during an interview Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union that federal authorities were “the ones turning Chicago into a war zone.”
The legal challenge follows a pair of weekend rulings from a federal judge in Oregon that temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying federalized National Guard members from California or other states to Portland. In one of those rulings, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut — a Trump appointee — wrote that “This country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs.” Trump has also threatened to send National Guard troops to other cities, including New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans — despite opposition.
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