Skip to main content
President Donald Trump on Sunday morning invoked federal law to take control of a portion of the Oregon National Guard, court documents show. Oregon sued to block the move Sunday afternoon.
“Earlier today, the Secretary of Defense sent a memo to Governor Tina Kotek authorizing 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to perform federal functions for 60 days, including protecting federal property ‘where protests are occurring or likely to occur,’” the governor’s office said in a news release.
The state moved to block the move in court hours later. In documents filed Sunday afternoon in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Oregon argues that the President lacks authority under Title 10 of the United States Code to federalize the National Guard. Oregon says the law only allows for the federalization of the guard in circumstances of invasion, rebellion, or when federal laws cannot otherwise be executed.
“None of those circumstances exist in Oregon,” the state says.
The state will seek a temporary restraining order to pause the actions of the president and subordinates, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a news briefing Sunday afternoon. He said the state hopes to be in front of a judge within days.
Trump said Saturday he had authorized a U.S. military mission to protect “War ravaged” Portland, a move local leaders immediately condemned as an egregious abuse of power.
“When the president and I spoke yesterday,” Kotek said in the Sunday news briefing, “I told him in very plain language that there is no insurrection or threat to public safety that necessitates military intervention in Portland or any other city in our state. Despite this—and with all evidence to the contrary—he has chosen to disregard Oregonians’ safety and ability to govern ourselves. This is not necessary. And I believe it’s unlawful. And it will make Oregonians less safe."
The Oregon National Guard consists of Oregonians. Kotek said she has received no notice of U.S. troops that are not part of the state National Guard being assigned to Oregon.
In the news briefing, Oregon officials summarized the events of this weekend. Like many Oregonians, Kotek said she was surprised by Trump’s announcement yesterday that he wanted to deploy troops in Portland. She then got him on the phone. “I attempted to have reasonable conversations with the administration about what the goal was, what the basis of maybe taking that action would be,” she said. “And we just have a substantive disagreement about what the situation is.”
She described the situation thus: There are free speech demonstrations happening near a federal facility in Portland. Portland police are actively engaged in managing the situation, with the federal officers who are at the facility. And when people cross the line into unlawful activity, they are being held accountable.
“This is not an insurrection,” she said. “This does not require military troops in an American city.”
Kotek said her office received an email from the Pentagon on Sunday morning. It gave notice that the federal government had invoked Title 10, a portion of federal law, to assume control of the national guard.
This, she said, means that the troops Trump was calling up were now under his control. Rayfield, the Oregon attorney general, said he got the news from Kotek’s office at 9:32 a.m. and he prepared to file suit to block the move.
Trump’s invocation of Title 10 resembles exactly the case he made in California in recent months, Rayfield said. A legal battle has been active there about whether Trump’s actions in that case, in which he deployed U.S. troops in Los Angeles, were illegal.
Rayfield said it was important to act fast to get a temporary restraining order before troops were deployed.
Kotek said she has been given no details about when troops might be deployed.
“I would just reiterate,” Kotek said, “We don’t have any details. Let’s think about this. The president of the United States believes we are under attack. He believes we have been invaded. I don’t know what he is thinking. We have zero details. And yet he is telling Oregonians to be called up to duty. That is wrong and it is un-American.”
