Appeals court approves use of National Guard in Portland by Trump administration

Published 1:48 pm Monday, October 20, 2025

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the Trump administration may deploy Oregon National Guard troops to Portland, overturning a temporary restraining order previously issued by a federal judge that had blocked the deployment.

The decision comes 11 days after attorneys for both Oregon and the U.S. Department of Justice made their cases on Thursday, Oct. 9.

U.S. Appellate Judges Susan Graber, Ryan Nelson and Bridget Bade — the first a former Oregon Supreme Court Justice and Clinton appointee, and the latter two appointed by Trump — signaled in the hearing that the majority were deferential to giving President Donald Trump the power to federalize the troops.

Federal and state leaders have fought against the federalization of the Oregon National Guard, deeming it unnecessary in response to ongoing protests outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in South Portland.

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump apointee, ruled in favor of Oregon’s proposed restraining orders earlier this month, emphasizing in a 30-page opinion, that by no definition of the word rebellion were the protests in Portland classified as such.

“Here, the protests in Portland were not ‘a rebellion’ and did not pose a ‘danger of a rebellion,’ especially in the days leading up to the federalization,” Immergut wrote.

Last week, Immergut extending this temporary restraining order for two more weeks, blocking the deployment to Portland from any other state whille awaiting the higher court decision.

It’s unclear what this new ruling means for Immergut’s second temporary restraining order.

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield filed a lawsuit late September, claiming the government had not met the legal benchmark needed to take control of the National Guard. The following day, the city of Portland filed a lawsuit asking for a temporary restraining order.

This story is developing and will be updated.