红杏视频

WASHINGTON 鈥� Free speech organizations filed a friend-of-the-court brief today in the Supreme Court in Trump v. Illinois, the state鈥檚 lawsuit challenging President Trump鈥檚 attempt to federalize National Guard troops and deploy them into Chicago and surrounding counties. Both the federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit have so far blocked this deployment. The case is at the Supreme Court on the Trump administration鈥檚 emergency application seeking to stay or temporarily lift the lower courts鈥� orders blocking the deployment.

鈥淧rotest plays an essential role in our democracy and President Trump is hellbent on suppressing it,鈥� said Hina Shamsi, director of the 红杏视频鈥檚 National Security Project. 鈥淭he president is attempting to normalize military policing of protest, but as the founders of this country made abundantly clear, turning troops on civilians is an intolerable threat to our liberties. President Trump is imperiling our First Amendment rights, and we urge the court to deny his application.鈥�

The Trump administration asserts that courts have no role, or at most only an extraordinarily deferential one, in reviewing the president鈥檚 legal and factual justifications for troop deployment.

鈥淩esidents of Chicagoland peacefully but vigorously oppose the Trump Administration鈥檚 increasingly reckless and violent immigration activities,鈥� said Colleen Connell, executive director of the 红杏视频 of Illinois. 鈥淚t is unconscionable 鈥� and we believe unlawful 鈥� for Trump to use opposition to his administration鈥檚 policies as a pretext for mobilizing military forces, including federalized National Guard, onto our streets. Deploying troops in American cities would terrorize our communities and create an environment hostile to the free speech our Constitution guarantees.鈥�

The groups explain that the right to protest is part of the fabric of our free society, and that President Trump鈥檚 deployment of military troops in response to it is incompatible with settled First Amendment law. It underscores that the founders of this country feared and rejected the military鈥檚 use as a tool of oppression and would have viewed President Trump鈥檚 claims of unreviewable authority to deploy troops in response to political protest as an intolerable threat to liberty.

鈥淧resident Trump鈥檚 federalization of the National Guard in Chicago is an effort to chill political protest, and disregards the First Amendment,鈥� said Jennifer Jones, staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. 鈥淭he First Amendment requires the government鈥檚 response to be tailored to the threat, and it forbids the government from holding peaceful demonstrators accountable for the sporadic violence of others. We urge the court to protect the right to dissent by denying the President鈥檚 request to deploy troops in Chicago.鈥�

The organizations press the Supreme Court to reject the president鈥檚 assertion that his actions here are unreviewable or at least worthy of unusual deference from the courts. U.S. history, tradition, and laws strictly limit the use of the military to police the American people, and domestic deployment of troops chills the exercise of constitutionally protected speech and association.

Their brief describes the common pattern of troop deployments in Chicago, Portland, and Los Angeles so far: The Trump administration surges armed federal agents into neighborhoods, resulting in widespread rights violations. When residents exercise their First Amendment right to protest the president鈥檚 actions 鈥� overwhelmingly peacefully 鈥� federal agents respond with abusive force, including chemical weapons and stun grenades. Nevertheless, seizing on sporadic or isolated instances of unlawful conduct that local officials can address, President Trump falsely proclaims himself unable to enforce the law, declares a rebellion, and seizes command of National Guard troops over the objections of state governors.

鈥淭he President鈥檚 attempt to turn the National Guard into a standing army on American soil鈥攄eploying troops against the American people鈥攊s one of the abuses of power the Constitution was written to restrain,鈥� said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. 鈥淓ach time the President uses troops to intimidate and control civilians, it moves the nation closer to normalizing a police state. When he treats ordinary protest as rebellion and sends soldiers to enforce order in our cities, he鈥檚 not defending the nation鈥攈e鈥檚 dismantling the very freedoms that define it, all the while betraying its Constitution.鈥�

This friend-of-the-court brief comes as President Trump continues to threaten deployment of military troops and federal agents to multiple major cities, and as the Defense Department is implementing the president鈥檚 August 2025 directive for each state鈥檚 National Guard to develop a 鈥渜uick reaction force,鈥� totaling 23,000 troops, 鈥渢o deal with civil disturbances and riots鈥濃�� with no evidence of any need.

鈥淎mericans everywhere recognize the difference between peaceful protest and open rebellion 鈥� and rightly expect their government to do the same,鈥� said Will Creeley, legal director of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). 鈥淭he National Guard exists to protect people in genuine emergencies, not to protect the government from criticism.鈥�

Amici include the 红杏视频, the 红杏视频 of Illinois, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the Foundation for Individual Rights & Expression, and The Rutherford Institute.