Yesterday, a federal court ruled that the federal government’s unilateral deployment of the National Guard into the District was unlawful, finding that the President exceeded his lawful authority by using military troops to police the District of Columbia.
The court issued a preliminary injunction halting the National Guard deployment in DC, which will go into effect in twenty days.
In September, Tzedek DC and allied DC civil rights and legal services organizations filed a federal court amicus brief to support the District of Columbia’s lawsuit to stop the use of the National Guard for local law enforcement purposes.
As an organization that serves a significant number of crime victims, Tzedek DC is especially concerned that those making choices about running the District’s local public safety functions are accountable to those who will feel the impact of their decisions most directly.
The court’s ruling makes clear that no President can deploy military troops into DC without legal authority—and reinforces the importance of public accountability, civil rights, and DC autonomy.
About Tzedek DC
Tzedek DC’s name is drawn from the ancient Jewish teaching “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” or “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” Headquartered at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law and with offices also in Ward 8, Tzedek DC’s mission is to safeguard the legal rights and financial health of DC residents with lower incomes facing the often-devastating consequences of debt collection and credit-related obstacles. This mission is carried out as anti-racism work in response to the massive wealth gaps tracking race in DC and nationwide. Tzedek DC seeks to serve and empower our client base, which is comprised of 90% Black people, 60% women, and 25% disabled community members. Our strategic approach combines three synergistic activities: (i) free direct services—legal representation and advice and financial counseling; (ii) working in coalition to make systemic change; and (iii) providing bilingual community legal education on debt collection, identity theft, and credit management. Since launching in 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 6,000 households and catalyzed systemic change benefiting hundreds of thousands of DC community members.