Trump’s deployments of National Guard troops reignite a 200-year-old Constitutional debate Politics Oct 22, 2025 1:15 PM EDT

This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

If you’re confused about what the law does and doesn’t allow the president to do with the National Guard, that’s understandable.

As National Guard troops landed in Portland, Oregon, in late September 2025, the state’s lawyers argued that the deployment was a “ direct intrusion on its sovereign police power .”

READ MORE: U.S. appeals court says Trump can take command of Oregon National Guard troops, though deployment blocked for now

Days before, President Donald Trump, calling the city “a war zone ,” had invoked a federal law allowing the government to call up the Guard during national emergencies or

See Full Page