The District of Columbia filed suit against President Donald Trump's administration over his deployment of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. as part of a crime crackdown.
"Armed soldiers should not be policing American citizens on American soil. The forced military occupation of the District of Columbia violates our local autonomy and basic freedoms. It must end," D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb wrote on X on Thursday.
Schwalb claimed that the deployment of troops violates the Home Rule Act and more.
"The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the military from engaging in domestic policing. Yet the Administration launched a massive, indefinite law enforcement operation in DC under direct military command. This is plainly illegal, and it threatens our democracy and civil liberties," he wrote.
Schwalb called the National Guard deployment an "involuntary military occupation" by the administration.
"Our nation was founded on the fundamental principles of freedom and self-governance that are stake in this case. No city in America should be subject to involuntary military occupation," he wrote.
The president's use of the National Guard has faced legal scrutiny already. A federal judge recently ruled that Trump's deployment of troops to Los Angeles over the summer amid protests was illegal.
Trump, however, has already threatened that he could deploy more National Guard troops to cities like Chicago, Baltimore, and others. There are currently about 2,300 National Guard troops in Washington, D.C.