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Note: This story was updated with news that the Trump administration has appealed the District Court’s ruling.
A week after a judge permanently blocked their deployment in Oregon, hundreds of Oregon and California National Guard members remain—against the wishes of their states’ governors—under federal command in the greater Portland area.
“The soldiers are conducting planning and training but not engaging in any Federal Protection Mission operational activities,” a U.S. military spokesperson said via email Thursday. “We have no additional information to provide.”
The troops’ status, of being federalized but not deployed, reflects lingering legal questions surrounding the case even after a U.S. district judge permanently rejected the Trump administration’s legal arguments for the mobilization.
“Oregon Guard members remain federalized away from their daily lives and inaccessible for service to the state of Oregon, pursuant to orders that” a court one week ago found violated federal law and the U.S. Constitution, the state of Oregon and other plaintiffs wrote in an appeals court filing Thursday seeking clarity.
There are a few dynamics at play. One, which the filing noted, is that even as the District Court blocked the deployment outright, it paused the federalization portion of its order for 14 days, perhaps seeking to maintain the status quo in which troops were federalized but not deployed while the Trump administration mulled an appeal.
On Friday afternoon, the Trump administration moved forward on that front, filing formal notice that it would appeal the lower court’s ruling.
It remains unclear how the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals might handle the case. It was set to hear a prior federal government appeal en banc—as a large cohort of appellate judges—but it is not clear whether the court would hear the new appeal on those same terms.
Also uncertain: the practical effects of multiple court orders on the time period during which Oregon National Guard troops can remain under federal command while their deployment is blocked.
Asked for Gov. Tina Kotek’s view, a spokesperson wrote: “The governor stands by her statement made on Nov. 7, calling for the troops to go home. The Oregon National Guard is made up of Oregonian citizen soldiers who deserve to be home with their families.”
