US soldiers from the South Carolina National Guard and the US Army and Air Force Services members of the West Virginia National Guard receive a letter before they as part of the DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force, Washington, DC, on August 19, 2025. About 800 members of the National Guard services include and support the DC-Safe and DC-Task Force. (Photos with the kind permission of Washington DC National Guard/Facebook)
Community advocate, who are against governor Patrick Morrisey’s commitment of the West Virginia National Guard to support President Donald Trump’s procedure in the country’s capital, have filed a lawsuit that questions the move.
The ACLU from West Virginia submitted the complaint at the Kanawha County Circuit Court on behalf of the West Virginia Citizen Action Group on Thursday. It lists Morrisey and Maj. General James Seward as a defendant.
“This campaign calls for an unprecedented and illegal commitment of the armed forces of the West Virginia National Guard across the borders of our state – not to defend against the invasion and not to react to a natural disaster in order not to help a sister state’s emergency application – but to serve as a political props in a crisis created,” says the group in the complaint.
“The law of West Virginia is clear: the governor can only use the national guard outside of our borders for certain, selected purposes – none of them do not exist here,” they write.
The complaint argues that Morrisey has exceeded his constitutional and legal authority with the commitment. The state code, which regulates the utilize of the national guard, was shaped after the Battle of Blair Mountain from 1921 by legal battles, in which the National Guard troops against US citizens were deployed, ACLU-WV law director Aubrey Spark said in a press release.
“The services of the security guards are indispensable for West Virginia, and send these important resources from the state to take part in a political stunt of the president is an indispensable and illegal,” said Sparks. “Neither the state law nor our constitution allows this commitment.”
In the lawsuit, attempts are made to restore the rule of law and to return the members of the guard to their “reasonable role” in the service of families and communities in West Virginia, according to a press release.
In an explanation, Dani Parent said Executive Director of WV CAG that the organization had great concerns about the deployment for DC.
“As an organization with over 50 years of the advocacy and organization of West Virginians for accounting, justice and good government, we believe that the use of the National Guard troops in West Virginia is a clear abuse of power in this context,” said Parent. “The guard exists in times of crisis to serve West Virginians, and this action seems to be motivated by partiality and appeasement the current federal administration.
“If we send our guard for political stance outside the state, only to lead critical resources that are needed here at home,” said parents. “The governor’s priority should be to serve West Virginians, not in the political major role.”
Morrisey announced his plans on Saturday to send between 300 and 400 Specialists from West Virginia National Guard to Washington, DC, together with “missionary equipment” Support with Trump’s federal takeover of police work there.
Trump has declared an “emergency for public security” in Washington, DC, and mobilized the local national guard to take the capital back from what he described as violent criminals. The chosen officials in Washington rose against the president’s claims on the crime of the city. Last year the Ministry of Justice said under the then President Joe Biden that DC Crime had reached a low of 30 years.
Trump’s Ministry of Justice has reported an investigation When it comes to whether the DC Metropolitan Police Department manipulated the crime data.
“West Virginia is proud to stand with President Trump to restore pride and beauty into the capital of our nation,” said Morrisey in a press release on Saturday. “The men and women of our national guard represent the best of our state, and this mission reflects our joint commitment to strong and safe America.”
West Virginia Democrats called the utilize as “political theater”.
West Virginia is one of six states led by Republicans who send a total of more than 1,000 members of the National Guard according to DC
Trump also activated 800 members of the National Guard of DC.
The legal steps were assigned to the Kanawha judge Richard Lindsay.
“The West Virginia National Guard was mobilized at the President’s request under the United States’s code, title 32 502 (f),” wrote a Morrisey spokesman in an e -mail to West Virginia Watch. “West Virginia is proud to support our neighbors and the commander -in -chief if they are attributed.”
This story has been updated to take a comment from Morrisey’s office.
