Lansing, Michigan – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined a group of state attorneys general who are against what they define as illegal use of the National Guard by former President Donald Trump in Illinois and Oregon. This is part of two multistate amicus briefs that were filed to support Illinois and Oregon’s legal challenges against the federal government’s decision to send troops to their states without permission.
The documents say that what the Trump administration did is a severe breach of the constitutional lines that separate civilian and military authority. The briefs stress that the U.S. Constitution says that military forces should always be under civilian administration and should not be utilized for police work at home. The government is being accused of eroding state sovereignty and jeopardizing the civil freedoms of citizens by sending federalized troops into places that weren’t having major problems.
Attorney General Nessel condemned the deployments, saying they were based on political motives rather than legitimate security concerns.
“President Trump is trying to weaponize the military against the very people he swore to serve, a clear violation of the Constitution,” Nessel said. “Law enforcement belongs in the hands of trained civilian authorities, not soldiers torn from their families to patrol American streets. This effort to militarize our cities disrespects our National Guard, undermines state sovereignty, and threatens the rights of every citizen.”
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The coalition’s legal argument also makes the point that states have a clear stake in keeping control of their own National Guard forces. These units are very important for responding to disasters, fighting criminal activity, protecting cyberspace, and other public safety tasks. The attorneys general say that the illegal federalization of the Guard takes important people away from these jobs and makes it harder for states to respond to emergencies or serve their communities well.
Besides the legal and practical issues, the attorneys general say that the deployments have made things worse in local communities instead of making them safer. Many people have criticized the use of troops in cities like Chicago and Portland, Oregon, saying it has made things worse between locals and police.
Michigan is getting ready to fight back against more federal overreach, just like a few other states. The attorneys general say they are ready to act if any state, including California and the District of Columbia, orders such deployments in the future.
Attorney General Nessel reaffirmed her position that state sovereignty and the rule of law must remain intact. She also said Michigan will continue to defend its residents from “dangerous and unlawful abuses of power” and support the principle that the U.S. military should never be used as a tool for political intimidation within American borders.