Appeals court halts order that blocked DC National Guard deployment

A federal appeals court put on hold a lower court ruling Wednesday that would have forced President Donald Trump to withdraw National Guard troops from the District of Columbia, concluding that the administration is likely to prevail in defending the deployment as lawful.

In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stayed a preliminary injunction issued last month by U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, who had ruled that Trump lacked authority to deploy the National Guard without a request from Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser. The stay keeps more than 2,000 guard members in place while the appeal proceeds.