Cross-Ideological Coalition to Congress: Rein in Trump’s National Guard Deployments
Last Thursday, five organizations from across the ideological spectrum sent a letter asking Congress to rein in the president’s domestic deployments of the National Guard. The letter follows yet another court ruling regarding the legality of the deployments. Noting that Trump’s National Guard deployments are “are foreign to our nation’s laws, history, and values,” the letter asks Congress to reassert its constitutional responsibility to prevent a president from establishing a “personal standing army on U.S. soil.” The groups signing the letter include Demand Progress, Mormon Women for Ethical Government, R Street Institute, Society for the Rule of Law Institute and The Rutherford Institute.
“Members of the Armed Forces, including the federalized National Guard, did not sign up to serve their countries only to be misused by politicians against their fellow Americans,” stated the letter. “They deserve better. And given the urgency and seriousness of this matter, lawmakers must act now, on behalf of both our military and our civilian communities. Congress must not idly wait for the federal courts to intervene.”
“Domestic deployment of the military carries profound risks to liberty, public safety and military readiness,” said Gregg Nunziata, Executive Director of the Society for the Rule of Law Institute. “The use of the military for domestic law enforcement should be considered only in extreme and unusual circumstances, for a brief duration and under rigorous oversight. The people’s representatives in Congress must assert their authority over these weighty matters and not simply defer to the whims of this or any future president.”
“MWEG’s members from across the country have felt a deep unease as they have watched domestic deployments of the military this year,” said Emma Addams, Co-Executive Director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government. “Their party affiliations and political ideologies may differ, but they are unified in urging Congress to represent them and use its power assertively and ethically on this matter.”
“Each time the president treats ordinary protest as rebellion and sends soldiers to enforce so-called ‘order’ in our cities, he’s not defending the nation—he’s dismantling the very freedoms that define it, all the while betraying the Constitution,” said John W. Whitehead, President of The Rutherford Institute.
“Using the military to address routine public safety issues fundamentally misunderstands the distinct roles that civilian law enforcement and the armed forces play in our society,” said Sarah Anderson, Associate Director of Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties at the R Street Institute. “Deploying troops to patrol American cities against the wishes of local officials risks undermining public trust, blurring essential legal boundaries and diverting attention from proven approaches that actually enhance safety and strengthen communities. Congress must act to preserve the bright line between military and law enforcement and ensure that our response to crime both protects liberty and relies on effective public safety strategies.”
“President Trump’s illegal deployments of the National Guard are a problem that transcends partisan politics,” said Demand Progress Policy Director Emily Peterson-Cassin. “No president, Republican or Democratic, should treat our armed forces as a personal posse to be used against their political enemies. Congress must intervene for the good of our Armed Forces and our Constitution.”