Law professor weighs in on what may happen next in Portland National Guard ruling

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Following a legal win for Oregon in its case against Trump’s attempted National Guard deployment into Portland, a local law professor is weighing in on what might happen next.

A federal judge has officially ruled that President Trump overstepped his authority by federalizing Oregon’s National Guard.

Judge Karin Immergut found there was no rebellion and no legal basis to deploy troops, calling the move a violation of the 10th Amendment, which limits federal authority.

On Friday, Immergut permanently extended her previous preliminary injunction barring any state’s troop deployment in Portland. Judge Immergut also granted a stay for a period of 14 days on troops who had already been federalized, but not deployed.

This all comes after ongoing protests outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in South Portland, which at times is the source of escalating interactions between protestors and the federal agents working there.

It’s been weeks of legal back and forth between the state of Oregon and the Trump Administration. 

Trump-appointed Judge Immergut, assigned to this case, ruled against him based on facts about what’s going on in South Portland, hearing from people on the ground like local law enforcement and federal agents.

This latest call is a win for Oregon. It essentially keeps control over Oregon’s National Guard in state hands, meaning any National Guard troops can’t come here under the control of the president. The ruling stands barring any successful appeals by the administration’s legal team in the future.

Lewis and Clark College Law Professor Tung Yin said the case could eventually make its way to the Supreme Court if the Trump administration can convince the judges that this case has a national impact. 

“This is not just like a one-off issue that somebody’s saying, ‘I don’t like the result, please fix it.’ This would be the administration saying, ‘Look, you know, this is constraining our ability to enforce the law throughout the country. And if we can’t deploy the troops, then there’s this lawlessness, not just in Portland, but, you know, it could be Seattle, it could be San Francisco, etc,'” Yin said.

Yin said there still has to be an appeal made by the Trump administration, so it may be a while before the case is theoretically heard before the Supreme Court.

The White House now has two weeks to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court.