President Trump scored a decisive court victory that keeps National Guard troops patrolling Washington D.C.’s crime-ridden streets, delivering another blow to liberal attempts at undermining law and order in America’s capital.
Story Snapshot
- D.C. Circuit Court unanimously allows Trump’s National Guard deployment to continue through February
- Court signals Trump likely to win on constitutional grounds due to D.C.’s unique federal status
- Crime dropped dramatically after deployment, including 83% reduction in carjackings
- D.C. Attorney General’s lawsuit challenging federal authority suffers major setback
Federal Court Backs Presidential Authority Over Capital Security
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit delivered a unanimous ruling that validates President Trump’s constitutional authority to secure the nation’s capital. The three-judge panel stayed a lower court’s injunction that would have forced thousands of National Guard troops to abandon their crime-fighting mission in Washington D.C. The appeals court described granting the stay as an “extraordinary remedy” but justified it because Trump’s administration demonstrated a “strong showing” of likely success on the merits of the case.
This ruling exposes the fundamental weakness of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s legal challenge, which seeks to strip federal authorities of their constitutional duty to protect the seat of government. Even Judge Patricia Millett, an Obama appointee on the panel, acknowledged that forcing troops to leave would cause “substantial disruption to the lives of thousands of service members” while D.C. failed to identify any ongoing injury to its statutory interests.
Crime Emergency Produces Dramatic Safety Improvements
Trump’s August 2025 crime emergency declaration deployed over 2,300 National Guard troops from eight states plus hundreds of federal agents to combat D.C.’s spiraling violence. The results speak for themselves: carjackings plummeted by 83%, robberies dropped significantly, and the city experienced a seven-day stretch without a single homicide for the first time in years. These statistics vindicate Trump’s law-and-order approach after years of failed liberal policies that prioritized defunding police over protecting innocent residents.
Mayor Muriel Bowser herself acknowledged the deployment’s success in Mayor’s Order 2025-090, formally recognizing that “violent crime in the District has noticeably decreased” with Guard support. This admission undermines the Attorney General’s lawsuit and reveals the disconnect between D.C.’s political leadership and the practical need for federal intervention to restore safety to America’s capital.
Constitutional Precedent Strengthens Federal Authority
The D.C. Circuit’s ruling reinforces a critical constitutional principle: Washington D.C.’s unique status as a federal district grants the President broader authority than he would have in sovereign states. The court explicitly distinguished between D.C. deployments and hypothetical deployments to “non-consenting states,” which it described as “constitutionally troubling.” This distinction protects both presidential authority in the capital and state sovereignty elsewhere, striking the proper constitutional balance.
READ NOW: Trump Scores Major Court Win In Bid To Keep D.C.’s Streets Safe — In a major win for the Trump administration, a federal appellate court agreed on Wednesday that President Trump can deploy the National Guard to Washington, D.C. for the…https://t.co/jdZ18FBCVz
— Top News by CPAC (@TopNewsbyCPAC) December 18, 2025
The timing of this victory couldn’t be better as Trump begins implementing his broader law-and-order agenda nationwide. While the ruling is technically preliminary, the court’s unusually strong language suggesting Trump will likely prevail on the merits sends a clear message to other liberal jurisdictions considering similar challenges to federal authority. The Constitution empowers the President to protect federal operations and personnel, especially when local authorities have proven inadequate to the task.
Sources:
Federal appeals court rules in favor of Trump administration DC National Guard deployment
Trump’s National Guard deployment in Washington can continue, court says
District of Columbia v. Trump Complaint
