Gov. Kelly joins multistate legal effort to block National Guard deployments in Washington, D.C.
The Democratic governor argues the Trump administration's use of troops as domestic police undermines state sovereignty and civilian control of the military.
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has joined a coalition of two dozen state attorneys general and governors in urging a federal appeals court to block the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Washington, D.C.
In an amicus brief filed Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the coalition asked the court to deny the administration's appeal and uphold a lower court ruling that halted the deployment. Kelly argued that utilizing the National Guard as a domestic law enforcement entity infringes on a governor's traditional command authority and distracts service members from their primary state duties.
"I have previously stood against infringement of the nation's governors' authority to command their National Guards, and I join this brief to preserve the purpose of the National Guard," Kelly said in a news release. "Deploying the National Guard to serve as a domestic police force undermines fundamental tenets of our democracy and pulls National Guard service members away from their primary responsibilities to their states and their communities."
The legal maneuver highlights the ongoing political friction between Democratic state executives and the Republican presidential administration over the federalization and use of military forces for domestic policing. The coalition's brief argues that the administration's actions threaten the foundational American principle of civilian control over the military and undermine the sovereignty of local and state jurisdictions.
According to the governor's office, the coalition noted that courts have previously rejected similar administration deployments, pointing to a U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding an attempted deployment in Illinois. Despite these rulings, the coalition raised alarms over the president's continuation of the policy in the nation's capital and his stated intent to send troops to additional American cities "one by one."
The amicus brief asserts that states experiencing such federal deployments have faced negative consequences, citing disrupted local law enforcement operations, economic damage, diverted state resources and heightened civil unrest.
Kelly was joined in the filing by the Democratic governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, as well as 23 state attorneys general, all Democrats, from across the country. The coalition is composed entirely of Democratic state officials.
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