Federal agents attempt to keep protesters back outside an ICE facility on October 6, 2025, in Portland, Oregon. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
After a federal judge in Oregon temporarily blocked Trump's attempt to deploy troops to Portland earlier this month, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to hear the Trump administration’s appeal.
The lower court judge had described Trump's action in her emergency order as "untethered to reality," and one that she said risks "blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation."
The appeals court quickly stayed the lower court’s order pending review.
The ruling comes as Trump has sought to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities despite stated opposition from local and state leaders. Senior administration officials have argued that the deployment is a necessary step to crack down on what they say is an uptick in violent crime and protect against threats from protesters, including anti-ICE demonstrations in many downtown areas.
Democrats have countered that Trump's descriptions are hyperbolic and inaccurate, and are merely a legal pretext for Trump to try to "federalize" Democratic-led cities. They've used news conferences to highlight declines in violent crime, and have argued in court that the effort to deploy federal troops exceeds Trump's authority as commander-in-chief.
Until the matter is appealed to the Supreme Court, the burden remains on the lower courts to navigate the high-profile, politically thorny flurry of cases.
FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP'S NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT TO PORTLAND AMID CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGE
A demonstrator wearing an inflatable Capybara costume is seen standing outside an ICE headquarters building in Portland, Oregon, as police work to disperse the crowd to clear traffic in this Oct. 6, 2025, photo. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
The panel's majority otherwise did little to disguise their skepticism of arguments presented by Oregon Assistant Attorney General Stacy Chaffin — including that Trump's assessment of violence in the city did not justify federalizing the National Guard.
Chaffin argued that the protests in Portland are a far cry from a definition of a "rebellion" — one of two conditions Trump needs to meet the legal pretext for National Guard deployment.
Rebellions "are unusual and extreme emergencies," Chaffin said. She noted that the bulk of complaints by local agents are focused on them being short-staffed. Administrative or personnel concerns, she said, "are not a reason to bring the military into the streets of Portland or any other U.S. city."
Still, the court appeared poised to side with the Trump administration.
"I’m not sure even President Lincoln would have been able to authorize the use of force right now" if his actions were to be scrutinized under the "much more stringent reviewability standard" implied by Oregon here, Nelson noted shortly before court adjourned.
The 9th Circuit is one of several appeals courts that has weighed Trump’s plan to send National Guard troops to Democratic-led cities in recent weeks.
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On Friday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene and block a 7th Circuit ruling that blocked it, for now, from sending National Guard troops into the city of Chicago.
Breanne Deppisch is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI and other national news. She previously covered national politics at the Washington Examiner and The Washington Post, with additional bylines in Politico Magazine, the Colorado Gazette and others. You can send tips to Breanne at Breanne.Deppisch@fox.com, or follow her on X at @breanne_dep.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/9th-circuit-court-rules-trumps-national-guard-deployment-portland