The Trump administration has requested the Supreme Court to deploy National Guard troops in Illinois after lower courts blocked the deployment.
As legal challenges to President Trump's campaign to send military troops to Democratic-led cities make their way through several courts, the administration's appeal to SCOTUS marks the first time the justices have been asked to weigh in on the issue.
In an appeal filed on Friday by the Department of Justice, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that troops are needed in the Chicago area to "prevent ongoing and intolerable risks to the lives and safety" of federal agents. The appeal comes a day after a federal judge denied Trump's bid to deploy troops in Illinois. Sauer argued that the judge's ruling "improperly impinges on the President's authority and needlessly endangers federal personnel and property."
Trump has argued that Chicago is lawless and in need of military intervention to quell protests and protect federal immigration facilities, and federalized the state National Guard against Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's wishes earlier this month. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott also sent several hundred of his state's troops to the Democratic-led state.
The Trump administration is "going to litigate this as much as we can," Vice President JD Vance said in an interview with ABC's This Week on Sunday. "We think that we have the authority to provide proper safety to our citizens all over the United States, but particularly in Chicago."
The Supreme Court has asked Illinois and Chicago officials to respond to the administration's arguments by Monday evening.
President Trump has carried out, or attempted to carry out, similar plans in other cities while claiming that federal intervention is needed to drive down crime rates. Leaders in several of those cities have said military force is unnecessary and have accused the president of exceeding his authority to carry out such deployments. Trump, eyeing future troop deployments, has said Baltimore, New York, New Orleans, St. Louis, Mo., Oakland and San Francisco are next.