Supreme Court rebuffs Trump's plan to send National Guard to Illinois

Dec. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Illinois over the objection of local officials.

The unsigned 6-3 order is at least a temporary setback for the Trump administration, which argued in court that the troops were needed to quell unrest in the Chicago area that it said was obstructing federal immigration officials from doing their jobs.

President Donald Trump's plans to deploy National Guard troops to other Democratic-led areas have also drawn legal challenges. While the court's order affects only Illinois, it sets a limit on the president's authority as Trump has assumed an expansive view of federal power for pursuing his hardline approach to immigration.

Three of the court's conservative justices joined its liberal wing in determining that the Trump administration did not have legal authority to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago and surrounding areas.

Related

• 2025 in review: Trump's White House return dominates headlines
• White House suspends green card lottery program after Brown shooting
• CBP increases recruits as part of Trump's deportation agenda
• Appeals court: National Guard can stay in D.C. until case is decided

The Broadview, Ill., Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility has seen confrontational protests over the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. The Trump administration argued that the situation has become so unwieldy that the president was justified in federalizing National Guard troops.

"At this preliminary stage, the government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois," the court's majority wrote in an unsigned order.

The Trump administration relied on a federal law that allows the president to deploy federal National Guard troops if he is "unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States." The case hinged on the question of what constituted "regular forces." The court determined that the president could only federalize the National Guard if the military's regular forces were unable to restore order.

However, Trump's ability to use the military to enforce laws is restricted by the Posse Comitatus Act, which broadly bars armed forces from being used for domestic police functions.

Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the court's majority.

Alito wrote in his dissent that hundreds of organized rioters brought shields, gas masks and protective padding to the ICE facility in Broadview for the purpose of disrupting the work of federal immigration authorities. He

"There is no basis for rejecting the president's determination that he was unable to execute the federal immigration laws using the civilian law enforcement resources at his command," Alito wrote.

Chicago protestors gather at ICE detention center

Protestors confront Illinois State Police near an ICE detention center as they protest against the immigration policies of the Trump administration in Chicago on October 17, 2025. Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI | License Photo