Judge Scolds Trump Administration For Being In 'Direct Contradiction' Of Portland Order

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut did not seem pleased to find that the Trump administration was attempting to get around her Saturday order blocking Oregon National Guard troops from invading Portland by using troops from other states, like California and Texas.

Immergut called an unusual late-night hearing Sunday to gather attorneys representing Oregon, California and the Department of Justice, and used the opportunity to express her disbelief.

“I am certainly troubled by now hearing that both California and Texas are being sent to Oregon, which does appear to be in direct contradiction of my order,” the judge said.

President Donald Trump has been on a mission to find National Guard troops to send to Democrat-led cities by claiming, falsely, that there is widespread crime or unrest in those places.

“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be in direct contravention of the [decision] I issued yesterday?” Immergut asked the Justice Department, Reuters reported.

She went on: “Is there any legal authority for what you are doing?”

An attorney for the Justice Department, Eric Hamilton, reportedly responded that the California National Guard had been legally federalized in June. (A federal judge later ruled that the way in which Trump had deployed the Guard to Los Angeles over the summer had been illegal.)

At another moment, Politico reported, the judge scolded Hamilton for arguing that her Saturday order only applied to Oregon National Guard troops.

“You are missing the point,” she said, per Politico.

Immergut concluded the hearing by broadening her order to prevent troops from any state from being sent to Portland. She said that the protests underway in Oregon’s largest city were relatively small, and that ordering in the National Guard could violate Oregon’s right to self-government, The Associated Press reported.

The revised order does not cover other cities, however. The president has also had his eyes on Chicago, Baltimore, New York and other places.

Trump often complains that judges move against him out of partisan loyalty to his opponents. But he appointed Immergut himself, during his first term, in January 2019.