The Supreme Court just slammed the brakes on President Donald Trump’s bold move to send National Guard troops into the Windy City.
In a 6-3 ruling on Tuesday, the nation’s highest court rejected the Trump administration’s push to deploy 300 Illinois National Guardsmen to Chicago to shield Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from violent rioters.
Let’s rewind to October, when Trump first proposed federalizing and deploying the National Guard to back up ICE agents facing hostility in Chicago.
The plan hit an immediate roadblock when a federal judge, appointed by a previous administration, slapped a temporary restraining order on the deployment.
Not one to back down, the Trump administration appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, only to be rebuffed again by a panel of judges refusing to lift the order.
Undeterred, the administration took their fight to the Supreme Court, requesting a stay on the lower court’s ruling to allow the troops to roll in.
On Tuesday, SCOTUS delivered a decisive 6-3 ruling in the case labeled Trump v. Illinois, No. 25A443, denying the stay and asserting that the government couldn’t pinpoint any legal basis for military enforcement of laws in Illinois.
The court’s unsigned order pointed out that Trump didn’t cite any statute bypassing the Posse Comitatus Act, instead leaning on supposed inherent constitutional powers to safeguard federal personnel and property—a claim the majority found unconvincing.
Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch weren’t on board, with Alito penning a dissent joined by Thomas, and Gorsuch offering his own separate take.
“Whatever one may think about the current administration’s enforcement of the immigration laws or the way ICE has conducted its operations, the protection of federal officers from potentially lethal attacks should not be thwarted,” Alito wrote in his dissent.
Well, Justice Alito, while your heart’s in the right place, one wonders if the majority’s strict legal stance risks leaving agents as sitting ducks while progressive policies embolden chaos in the streets.
Meanwhile, the backdrop to this legal showdown is grim—rioters have been targeting an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, physically attacking agents while shouting hostile slogans, as reported by Breitbart News.
With chants like “Kill ICE!” echoing through the streets, it’s hard not to question whether the court’s ruling prioritizes legal technicalities over the very real safety of federal workers caught in the crosshairs.
Chicago’s sanctuary status aside, conservatives might argue this decision hands a win to those who’d rather see federal authority undermined than address the violence head-on—leaving law enforcement and local communities to pick up the pieces.
