U.S. Circuit judges Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas, both Donald Trump appointees, warned that the president may not be allowed to deploy troops to non-consenting states.
In a ruling on Wednesday, the three-judge panel found that Trump had the power to continue his troop deployment in the District of Columbia. But they stopped short of allowing Trump to use the same power in the states.
"Deploying an out-of-state Guard to a non-consenting State to conduct law enforcement would be constitutionally troubling to our federal system of government, and courts no doubt have a duty to construe ambiguous text in statutes to avoid serious constitutional questions," the ruling said.
The order effectively stays a lower court ruling that would have forced Trump to withdraw troops from D.C.
