Trump Is Not Entitled to a National Police Force

"One through-line in Donald Trump's style of governance over the years has been animus. His Muslim travel ban, his decision to expel transgender servicemembers from the military, and his administration's crackdown on so-called gender ideology and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, to name a few areas, are all expressions of animus toward people, groups, even ideas, which the law can and should protect but the president has seen fit to crush or banish."

"Under the pretext of desiring to maintain law and order, the president is targeting states that are separate sovereigns because their governors, elected leaders, and residents simply reject the idea that federal agents should be allowed to roam the streets like an occupying force, snatching and disappearing their own - workers, bystanders, and others simply going about their lives or looking a certain way."

""The federalization and deployment of the National Guard in the Chicago area is the direct result of President Trump's longstanding and well-documented animus toward Illinois and Chicago," reads a legal memorandum in support of the Illinois lawsuit now pending before a federal judge challenging the legality of this latest gambit. As the state's federal complaint documents, Trump's personal animus and his administration's actions against Illinois and Chicago run deep."

Animus in constitutional law means ill will toward a group for discriminatory, illegitimate reasons, such as race, gender, national origin, or sexual orientation. Examples of animus include the Muslim travel ban, the expulsion of transgender servicemembers, and crackdowns on gender ideology and DEI initiatives. The federalization of the Illinois, California, and Oregon National Guards represents a different kind of animus driven by hostility toward major U.S. cities led by Democrats. Framed as law-and-order efforts, these deployments risk treating states as occupied sovereigns and subject residents to federal agents who may act like an occupying force. A legal memorandum and Illinois's federal complaint assert that these actions reflect longstanding presidential animus and raise constitutional challenges now pending in court.

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