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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’s 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 to allow the Trump administration time to appeal.
But the administration has sent mixed signals. After the federal court ruled against it Nov. 7, the Trump administration said it expected to be vindicated by a higher court. Yet a week later, no new appeal has been filed. A White House spokesperson did not respond to a question Friday about its plans.
Meanwhile, it remains unclear how the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will handle a prior federal government appeal in the case that was set to be heard en banc—by a larger cohort of appellate judges.
In its filing Thursday, plaintiffs asked the appeals court to issue clarity on its plans on that front and, separately, to clarify the timeline for when the federalization period would end for the Oregon National Guard troops.
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.”
