Well, here we go again — exactly as expected. Oregon District Court Judge Karin Immergut has doubled down, issuing yet another temporary restraining order against the Trump administration’s National Guard deployment. This time, she’s expanded it to cover all National Guard troops, not just those from Oregon.
The first temporary restraining order dropped Friday evening, right after Oregon’s Democrat leadership sued the Trump administration over its plan to deploy 200 National Guard troops to Portland. But here’s the catch — the order only applied to members of the Oregon National Guard.
So, in typical Trump fashion, the administration adjusted on the fly and prepared to send in California National Guard troops instead.
However, Oregon amended its complaint and sought a second TRO “to prohibit the relocation or deployment of any National Guard under Defendants’ command (i.e., Title 10 status) within the State of Oregon.”
The new TRO runs for 14 days, with any motion for a preliminary injunction due by October 17 and a full hearing on the merits now scheduled for October 29. The court also denied the Trump administration’s request for a stay, preventing an immediate appeal.
That said, the administration has already appealed the first TRO to the Ninth Circuit — so it’s a safe bet they’ll tack this one onto that existing appeal. And if recent history is any guide, the odds are decent that the Ninth Circuit could step in. In the earlier California cases over National Guard deployments — both involving Governor Gavin Newsom — the court issued a stay pending appeal in one instance and an administrative stay in the next. So there’s precedent for the Ninth Circuit to do the same here.
For now, it’s another round in the never-ending war between activist judges and a president trying to enforce the law. We’ll know soon enough which side the Ninth Circuit lands on.
