National Guard members stationed in front of Union Station in Washington, DC, on August 18, 2025. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court on Thursday stayed a lower court’s order to remove the National Guard from the streets of Washington, D.C., eight days after two members were attacked in broad daylight in the District.
The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted the Trump administration’s request to stay the Nov. 20 decision finding the Guard presence was illegal “pending further order from this court.”
“The purpose of this administrative stay is to provide the court with sufficient opportunity to consider the application for stay pending appeal and should in no way be construed as a decision on the merits of this application.” wrote Judges: Patricia Millett, Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao.
Millett was appointed by former President Barack Obama, and Katsas and Rao were appointed during President Donald Trump’s first term.
According to the lower court’s order, about 2,000 National Guard troops in Washington were originally scheduled to remain in the District through February.
Appeal will be considered after the shooting
The reprieve comes just over a week after two West Virginia National Guard members were shot and killed on Nov. 26 just blocks from the White House. U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died of her injuries the following day, Thanksgiving. U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, underwent surgery for grave injuries and remains hospitalized.
The suspected shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan citizen living in Washington state, pleaded found not guilty from his hospital bed during a virtual hearing in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday. Lakanwal is charged with first-degree armed murder, possession of a firearm and assault with intent to kill.
The Trump administration filed this Emergency application to remain the lower judge command on the day of the shooting. The administration asked the district court to issue a decision by December 4th.
Judge Jia Cobb of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, found The government’s deployment of more than 2,000 guard troops in the city was illegal, but it maintained its decision from November 20 to December 11 to give the administration time to appeal and remove the guards from the district’s streets.
Guard armed
First, Trump mobilized 800 National Guard troops were sent to the nation’s capital in August after a “crime emergency” was declared in the county, despite crime being reported to be at three-decade lows.
Many were ordered to carry service weapons, according to the Wall Street Journal reported on August 17th. The White House effort was accompanied by an increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in the District.
As part of a countywide crackdown, Trump also federalized the District’s police force for 30 days. While police federalization expired, Trump kept the National Guard in the district.
Since then, Republican governors from Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia, among others, have agreed to send their own Guard members to the district.
The mobilization had been litigated in court for months.
