The District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday arguing that U.S. President Donald Trump’s takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department is illegal.
Brian Schwalb, the district’s attorney general, argued that the president overstepped the terms of the Home Rule Act, which gave the district self-governance in 1973.
Congress retains “ultimate legislative authority” over the district, “including the right to review legislation enacted by the council” per the 1973 law, the lawsuit says. “But unless Congress intervenes, the act provides that control over local matters remains in the hands of the District of Columbia’s locally elected leaders.”
Trump fede ralized the district’s police force by executive order on Monday and deployed 800 National Guardsmen