The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to intervene in a case concerning President Donald Trump's efforts to deploy federal troops to Portland, Oregon, stunned one legal analyst on Wednesday.
Adam Klasfeld, editor-in-chief of All Rise News, discussed the court's decision to review the case en banc with progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen during a podcast interview on Wednesday. The decision effectively halts the troop deployment because the litigation remains ongoing.
"It's an extraordinary action," Klasfled said. "For the full court, for an en banc court to intervene at this stage means that they think that the original panel was so misguided that they had to intervene at this stage. And it comes right after Trump's DOJ had to admit in an embarrassing two-page letter that the statistics they cited in order to justify sending the troops to Portland were entirely bogus."
Trump deployed troops to Portland earlier this month under the guise that the city had become a "war zone." The state sued the administration, and a district court judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the deployment. A three-judge panel overturned that order on Oct. 20.
However, Klasfeld said the administration had to walk back some of the claims it made while under oath.
"Courts don't like to be misled," Klasfeld said. "And here the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the entire en banc bench, intervened immediately and said, 'We're going to reinstate the federal judge's order.' And that's probably why we're at the stage we are right now."