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4d ago

Trump’s Revised D.C. Police Takeover Meets Legal, Political Resistance

Federal forces remain on D.C. streets under an amended Home Rule order under continued legal pressure from courts and Congress.

National Guard troopers stand guard on 9th Street between L and M Streets in the northwest section of Washington, D.C., April 6, 1968. The nation's capital has been rocked by rioting in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4 in Memphis. (AP Photo/Bob Schutz)
A National Guard soldier stands at the corner of 4th and H Streets in northeast Washington, DC, on April 6, 1968.
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Troops patrol a downtown street in Washington, DC, after President Johnson ordered them in to help police on April 5, 1968.

Overview

  • President Trump invoked Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act to federalize the Metropolitan Police and deploy roughly 800 National Guard troops alongside hundreds of federal agents.
  • A federal judge’s objections led the Justice Department to revise its emergency order, restoring day-to-day command of the MPD to the local police chief.
  • Mayor Muriel Bowser and Attorney General Brian Schwalb have filed lawsuits against the federal takeover while D.C. Council members and congressional lawmakers pursue legislative responses.
  • Governors from multiple states have committed additional Guard units under Title 32 status, creating a complex web of state-federal coordination in Washington.
  • Civil-liberties groups and commentators condemn the operation as an authoritarian overreach that contradicts DOJ and MPD statistics showing violent crime at 30-year lows.