Will Portland troops case reach the US Supreme Court?

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A federal judge’s preliminary injunction issued Sunday night gives her more time to evaluate the testimony from a 3-day trial where the State of Oregon sued the Trump Administration over plans to deploy National Guard troops into Portland.

Judge Karin Immergut issued the preliminary injunction hours before a temporary restraining order was set to expire. Immergut said she will issue a final ruling in the complex case no later than 5 p.m. on Friday.

Among the hundreds of pieces of evidence submitted in that trial were videos from cameras on the ICE facility of federal agents outside the Portland ICE building using force against what appears to be nonviolent protesters.

The judge’s decision to keep the National Guard out of Portland streets for now is based on what she said was trial testimony that did not show credible evidence the protest grew out of control or involved more than sporadic instances of violent conduct that did not cause serious injuries to federal personnel in the months before Trump ordered the National Guard to be federalized.

Immergut also said the protesters’ actions did not constitute a rebellion or invasion.

This case will likely go to the Federal Court of Appeals and possibly the US Supreme Court.

“The losing side can ask the Supreme Court for review, and that’s what we call a Petition for Cert or Petition for Review,” said Lewis & Clark law professor Tung Yin. “But the difference is that you automatically get to have the 9th Circuit hear the appeal. But you don’t automatically get to have the Supreme Court take the case.”

Each year, the US Supreme Court gets thousands of requests to hear a case. They agree to hear only about 80 cases. But this case — and one in Chicago — have national implications.

Meanwhile, hundreds of National Guard members from California and Oregon will remain at the National Guard camps in Oregon with troops still under federal control — but legally prevented from heading to the ICE facility.