Overview
- The Ninth Circuit voted to rehear the case en banc and vacated last week’s 2–1 ruling, leaving Judge Karin Immergut’s orders blocking any National Guard deployment in Oregon intact.
- A three-day bench trial opened in Portland before Judge Immergut to determine whether the president lawfully invoked 10 U.S.C. §12406 to federalize and deploy troops.
- Justice Department lawyers say threats and violence at the South Portland ICE facility impeded enforcement and show regular forces were insufficient, while Oregon and Portland call the situation a manufactured crisis.
- Portland Police Cmdr. Franz Schoening testified that federal officers used disproportionate force and triggered a large barrage after an accidental tear-gas discharge on Oct. 18.
- In related cases, a Chicago judge ordered daily in-court reporting and body cameras for federal agents, and the administration has sought emergency relief at the Supreme Court over Illinois deployments.