From the Washington Examiner: A federal appeals court judge on Thursday cast doubt on Oregon’s challenge to President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard in Portland, saying there was no evidence the deployment was unlawful despite state concerns about presidential overreach.
Judge Ryan D. Nelson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said he was not “trying to diminish” worries that federalizing the Oregon National Guard could set a dangerous precedent. But he added that the record before the court did not show evidence of abuse.
“It may well be that the forces are used in an improper way, but we don’t have any evidence of that right now,” said Nelson, a Trump appointee. “All we have is a document that says, ‘We have a federal facility under attack or that violence has forced it to close down, and we want to protect it.’ That doesn’t strike me as a glaring overuse on its face.”
The panel, comprised of two Trump appointees and one appointee of former President Bill Clinton, heard oral arguments in the Trump administration’s appeal of a lower-court order blocking the Guard’s deployment to protect a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility that had been shuttered amid months of protests and sporadic violence.
The three-judge panel said they would attempt to reach a decision on the case as soon as possible.
The report explains that even if the appeals court does rule in favor of the Trump administration, a separate district court order regarding a secondary lawsuit joined by the state of California remains in place blocking any National Guard deployment in Portland until at least Oct. 19.
NOW: U.S. Court of Appeals for 9th Circuit just finished hearing Trump’s appeal to deploy National Guard troops to Portland.
The panel (two Trump appointees, one Clinton) seems poised to side with the Trump administration, as reflected by the tenor of the ~90-min oral args
— Breanne Deppisch (@breanne_dep) October 9, 2025
Federal appeals court weighs National Guard deployment to Portland https://t.co/6YMUomB0RT pic.twitter.com/HXwxL3g77i
— FOX 12 Oregon (@fox12oregon) October 10, 2025
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