Updated at 10:23 PM EDT on August 21, 2025
President Trump has frequently mentioned expanding federal control over Washington, D.C., in the days after he declared a “crime emergency” there, despite the city’s retaliatory demonstrations and legal challenges.
Following the injury of a former DOGE employee in an attempted carjacking last week, Trump assumed command of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and sent out D.C.’s National Guard. Even though city statistics indicates that violent crime is at a 30-year low, Trump has blamed “out of control” crime.
The president is given leadership of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., by the 1973 Home Rule Act. Additionally, it permits him to employ local law enforcement for federal objectives in times of emergency, but only for a maximum of 30 days without congressional approval, which is not available until early September.
Trump told reporters last Wednesday, “We’re going to do this very quickly, but we’re going to want extensions,” in reference to MPD control.
Many people in D.C. are now asking how long Trump’s control of police enforcement can continue.
Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program, says, “That is actually a question that we don’t really have an answer to, because there is very little case law about the proper uses of the D.C. National Guard or about the authority that the president is relying on to invite other states to send their National Guard forces into D.C.”
Since the Home Rule Act was passed, no other president has assumed leadership of the MPD. Although his employment of the D.C. National Guard is not explicitly time-limited, prior deployments, including as his response to civil rights demonstrations in 1968 and 2020, have dealt with more focused crises.
Goitein points out that Trump has indicated that other Democratic-run cities, such as New York and Chicago, would be next, but that his focus on crime appears to be far more expansive and politically driven.
“It just seems like this is a flexing of federal muscle to intimidate jurisdictions across the country,” she continues. “And so it’s not clear what could bring this to an end, other than intervention by the courts, by Congress or overwhelming public disapproval.”
A federal judge essentially stopped the Trump administration’s intention to replace D.C.’s police chief last week after the city’s attorney general sued the government to prevent its police takeover.
However, local police are currently under federal supervision. Additionally, the city is being patrolled by hundreds of National Guard personnel, some of whom are armed, and more are on the way. There are concerns about what the Republican governors of at least six other states will do and how long they will remain in the nation’s capital after announcing that they are sending their own National Guard men there.
Georgetown University Law Center adjunct professor of law Meryl Chertoff asks, “If crime is already down, then at what point do they say, ‘Mission accomplished’?” “Or is the mission going to last endlessly because you’re never going to drive crime down to zero?”
When asked when it planned to remove National Guard troops from D.C., the White House told NPR on Monday, “We wouldn’t get ahead of any potential announcements from POTUS.”
According to Chertoff, the fact that Trump is already discussing expanding his authority over MPD and asking other state governors to send out their National Guard forces indicates that he is not basing his choices on facts.
“If the president were really serious about this as law enforcement, as opposed to intimidation or provocation of people who live in D.C., he would wait to see whether the current activation was enough to solve the problem which he says exists in D.C.,” she continues.
What are the limits on Trump’s use of D.C. police?
The president may temporarily utilize D.C. police under Section 740 of the Home Rule Act if he finds that “special conditions of an emergency nature exist which require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes.”
He has 30 days to do so, after which a joint resolution from the House and Senate would be required to authorize an extension. Trump’s executive order from August 11th proclaimed such an emergency and called for police assistance “for the maximum period permitted.”
That first window would expire on September 10th, unless Trump closes it before. Last Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt informed reporters that “after this 30-day period is up, we will reevaluate and reassess and make further decisions.”
Trump himself stated a few days later that his government will request “long-term extensions.”
“I think the Republicans in Congress will approve this pretty much unanimously,” he stated.
In fact, a number of Republican politicians, such as Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, have voiced their disapproval of crime in D.C. and supported Trump’s initiatives to solve it.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., tweeted on Friday, “Give Trump a third term, give him a Peace Prize, and let him run D.C. as long as he wants,” even though the Constitution only allows presidents to serve two elected terms.
Trump’s takeover is fiercely opposed by many Democrats in Congress and local government, who see it as a danger to democracy in D.C. and elsewhere.
A number of House Democrats presented a resolution last week that would stop Trump from federalizing the MPD. Although it would be difficult in a Republican-controlled Congress, home rule permits Congress to pass a joint resolution ending the president’s authority over local police.
As was the case last week, legal challenges are a more likely hurdle to Trump’s takeover. When the U.S. Justice Department attempted to appoint a federal official to lead the MPD, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalbsued it to stop what he described as a “hostile takeover.”
Judge Ana Reyes, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, indicated during an emergency hearing on Friday that she would grant Schwalb’s motion unless the Justice Department revised its memo to place the current police chief in control. This week, she said, she will hold another hearing on the more general legal issues.
“I still do not understand on what basis the president can say, ‘You, police department, can’t do anything unless I say you can,'” Reyes stated, as reported by USA Today, Politico, and other outlets. “That cannot be the reading of the statute.”
What would need to happen for the National Guard to leave?
The president has the authority to command the D.C. National Guard under Home Rule, although governors in other states do the same. The Guard’s deployment duration is unaffected.
The Guard’s tenure in D.C. may end in a few ways, according to experts.
Among them are lawsuits. According to Goitein of the Brennan Center, they would probably focus on the Posses Comitatus Act of 1878, which has a number of possible flaws and significantly restricts the military’s role in domestic law enforcement.
“President Trump is trying to exploit a couple of those loopholes,” she claims. “And we don’t know yet whether the courts are going to endorse what he’s doing.”
According to her, the administration may claim, for instance, that the D.C. National Guard is free from Posse Comitatus since it operates under non-federal status (although being under the president’s authority). It can also contend that the National Guard does not have a direct role in D.C. law enforcement. (The Army stated last week that guard members will act as a “visible crime deterrent” rather than making arrests.)
As long as Reyes has jurisdiction over the police case, Chertoff argues, the attorney general of D.C. may potentially go back and “ask for additional rulings with respect to the use of the National Guard.” She claims that even though it has “limited cards to play,” the surge of troops from states might support a claim of abuse of authority.
There are more pragmatic factors as well. For instance, during the Atlantic hurricane season, National Guard personnel may be more urgently needed at home. They are also in the vanguard of responding to natural disasters.
In light of storm Erin’s approach to the East Coast, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster declared Saturday that 200 troops will be sent to Washington, D.C., adding that “should a hurricane or natural disaster threaten our state, these men and women can and will be immediately recalled home to respond.”
With data from online dining platform OpenTable showing a 25% decline in D.C. restaurant reservations in the days following Trump’s takeover, Goitein claims that there is also the power of public opinion, citing recordings of masked agents performing operations that went viral and caused disruptions to local companies.
According to her, Trump’s actions may be influenced by the public’s reaction, including polling and protests.
“As it becomes increasingly clear that D.C. is essentially under military occupation and that what’s happening here, if replicated elsewhere, basically is moving this country toward a police state, that can move public opinion,” Goitein said. “And public opinion can move the president.”
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