Justice Kavanaugh Is Concerned About “Future Crises” Due to Ruling on Troops in IL

Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the Supreme Court’s decision on President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Illinois could impact “future crises.”

The Court denied an application on Tuesday to stay a lower court decision blocking the deployment of troops to support the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

Kavanaugh concurred with the decision but expressed some concerns.
“The Court’s legal interpretation, as I understand it, could lead to potentially significant implications for future crises that we cannot now foresee,” Kavanagh said.

He agreed with the decision, but is concerned about the precedent it sets.
In Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion, he discussed the potential consequences of the decision.

Kavanaugh wrote, “Consider a hypothetical example. Suppose a mob rapidly gathers outside the U. S. Courthouse in Philadelphia in response to an unpopular decision (or to influence the outcome of a pending matter). Suppose also that the mob is threatening to storm the courthouse and attack the federal judges, prosecutors, and other personnel inside, and to damage or burn down the building, thereby preventing the execution of federal law. Suppose further that U. S. military forces cannot readily mobilize to deploy to the site in time, that the local police and federal court security officers are outnumbered, and that the President wants to federalize National Guard units to protect the courthouse and the judges, prosecutors, and other personnel. Under the Court’s order today, even in those circumstances, the President presumably could not federalize the National Guard.”