The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit just temporarily paused a ruling from a split three-judge panel that would have allowed President Donald Trump to call up the National Guard in Portland, Oregon, against protesters at that city's Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

That means that, for the time being, Trump remains stymied from calling up the Guard in Portland.

According to Law Dork's Chris Geidner, "A resolution on en banc consideration is expected(?) to happen by 5p Tuesday" — meaning the appellate court will decide to rehear the case before every judge on the court, as opposed to the three-judge panel dominated by two of Trump's own appointees.

The Ninth Circuit as a whole has a majority of Democratic appointees and is often skeptical of Trump's policies in legal challenges.

Trump was initially blocked from the deployment by U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, herself a Trump appointee, who in a blistering decision found that none of the facts on the ground supported Trump's claim that a rebellion was underway.

The initial Ninth Circuit reversal of this ruling was met with heavy criticism from legal experts, who noted that the majority was substituting their own opinions for the factual findings of the lower court.

A protester who claims to have been arrested for exercising his First Amendment rights against the Trump administration spoke out to MSNBC's Jason Johnson on Friday.

The protester, Sam O'Hara, was briefly detained by the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. for following behind National Guard troops Trump deployed to the city, blasting "The Imperial March," an iconic Star Wars track also known colloquially as Darth Vader's theme. The song is heavily associated in pop culture with villainy and totalitarianism.

O'Hara is now filing suit over his treatment by authorities.

"So first off, Sam, I want to thank you as both a D.C. resident and a Star Wars fan for what you've done," said Johnson. "I have followed you on social media. I was very, very impressed. I just — I want you to take us to that day, and how did it feel? I mean, you're playing music and essentially they come up to you and say, 'You're a member of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor, goodbye.' And they take you away."

"How did that feel?" Johnson pressed him. "Were you afraid? Did you feel comfortable because other people were around? What was that moment like?"

"Yeah. Thank you for having me. And you nailed it," said O'Hara. "I mean, that's that's kind of how it felt. It felt like they were upset with what I was doing as a form of protest. They threatened to call the MPD. And then the MPD did what they shouldn't have done, which is they stopped me, they handcuffed me."

"It felt surreal, dystopian, bad," he added. "It just felt real bad that this is where we are right now."

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With a majority of Americans now recognizing that President Donald Trump is weaponizing the US Department of Justice, the DOJ’s Friday announcement that it will send election monitors to California and New Jersey is generating alarm.

Republicans in both states had written to the DOJ, requesting monitors for the Nov. 4 general elections in which Californians will vote on Proposition 50, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s answer to Trump’s mid-decade gerrymandering in GOP-led states, and New Jersey residents will pick their next governor.

While the DOJ’s statement noted that its Civil Rights Division “regularly deploys its staff to monitor for compliance with federal civil rights laws in elections in communities across the country,” and US Attorney General Pam Bondi insisted that her department “is committed to upholding the highest standards of election integrity,” legal experts have accused the Trump appointee of “serious professional misconduct that threatens the rule of law and the administration of justice.”

The head of the Civil Rights Division, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, has also faced scrutiny, including for gutting the Voting Section—which, as the DOJ pointed out Friday, “enforces various federal statutes that protect the right to vote, including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act, Help America Vote Act, Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, and the Civil Rights Acts.”

This DOJ deployment of poll watchers targets New Jersey’s Passaic County and five California counties: Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside.

Newsom’s office said on social media Friday that “this is not a federal election. The US DOJ has no business or basis to interfere with this election. This is solely about whether California amends our state Constitution. This administration has made no secret of its goal to undermine free and fair elections. Deploying these federal forces appears to be an intimidation tactic meant for one thing: Suppress the vote.”

Rusty Hicks, chair of the state’s Democratic Party, said that “no amount of election interference by the California Republican Party is going to silence the voices of California voters.”

Democratic New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin was similarly critical, saying in a statement that “the Trump Department of Justice’s announcement that it is sending federal ‘election monitors’ to Passaic County is highly inappropriate, and DOJ has not even attempted to identify a legitimate basis for its actions.”

“The Constitution gives states, not the federal government, the primary responsibility for running elections, and our state’s hardworking elections officials have been preparing for months to run a safe and secure election,” he added. “We are committed to ensuring that every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot and make their voices heard.”

Early voting in New Jersey begins Saturday. In the gubernatorial race, former Republican state legislator Jack Ciattarelli is facing Democratic Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill. As the Associated Press pointed out earlier this month, “New Jersey is one of two states, along with Virginia, electing governors this fall—and the contests are widely seen as measures of how voters feel about Trump’s second term and how Democrats are responding.”

Democracy Docket reported Friday that “already in recent months, voting rights advocates and leading Democrats have warned that the administration is laying the groundwork to deploy troops or law enforcement to the polls in key cities next year and in 2028. Friday’s announcement has intensified those fears.”

After the DOJ’s election monitoring announcement, journalist Keith Olbermann said on social media: “Trump has started his direct assault on local elections. This fascist interference must be prevented.”