Trump’s authority to send National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon under review

A federal court will rehear a case relating to President Donald Trump’s authority to send National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon.

The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit happened after U.S. District Judge Karen Immergut issued two back-to-back restraining orders blocking Trump from deploying California National Guard soldiers to Portland and blocking Trump from deploying any National Guard soldiers to Portland, respectively.

The government appealed the first order, and a Ninth Circuit panel decided last week in a 2-1 decision to side with Trump in that matter.

Then on Tuesday, the appeals court decided it would rehear the case over Trump’s authority with a larger panel of 11 judges and vacated the ruling from the three-judge panel that sided with the administration. 

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“Upon the vote of a majority of nonrecused active judges, it is ordered that this case be reheard en banc pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 40(c),” the court said in a short order issued Tuesday. 

There is no immediate timetable when the “en banc” court – consisting of a random selection of 11 Ninth Circuit judges – will hear the case.   

Immergut, a Trump appointee, will preside over the trial in Portland set to begin Wednesday stemming from a lawsuit filed by the city and state against the Trump administration in a bid to block the troop deployment. 

During the trial, witnesses are expected to take the stand for both sides and face cross-examination. The federal defendants will call officials from U.S. Immigrationa and Customs Enforcment (ICE), the War Department and the Federal Protective Service, the agency that provides security for federal buildings.

Immergut previously categorized protests in the city as relatively small and said such demonstrations did not justify the use of federalized forces and that the deployment could harm Oregon’s state sovereignty.

“This country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs,” Immergut wrote in one filing, adding, “This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law.”

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Trump has deployed or threatened to deploy troops in several U.S. cities, particularly ones led by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Memphis, Tenn.

“I looked at Portland over the weekend, the place is burning down, just burning down,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last week.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has said, “Portland is not the president’s war-torn fantasy.”

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“Our city is not ravaged, and there is no rebellion,” Rayfield also said. “Members of the Oregon National Guard are not a tool for him to use in his political theater.”

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver, Lee Ross and The Associated Press contributed to this report.