CHICAGO, IL — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration, seeking to block what he called the “unlawful deployment” of National Guard troops into Illinois without state consent. The move escalates a growing constitutional clash between the White House and several Democratic-led states over the limits of presidential authority.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the complaint names President Donald Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, and their respective departments as defendants. Raoul argues that the administration’s actions exceed its powers under Title 10 of the U.S. Code (§12406) — the statute that governs when the president may federalize a state’s National Guard.
According to the lawsuit, that authority applies only in cases of “invasion, rebellion, or the inability to enforce federal law.” Raoul contends that none of those conditions exist in Illinois.
“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military — particularly because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” Raoul said in a statement. “This office is committed to defending the Constitution and stopping unlawful federal intrusion into our state.”
The filing also claims that the federal deployment violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the U.S. military from engaging in domestic law enforcement, as well as the Tenth Amendment, which preserves state sovereignty over local policing.
Raoul’s suit seeks an immediate temporary restraining order to prevent federalized National Guard members — including those from Texas and Illinois — from performing law enforcement duties within the state. His office argues that such deployments risk escalating tensions, disrupting local economies, and further eroding public trust in law enforcement.
The City of Chicago joined the lawsuit, marking one of the strongest state–city partnerships yet in opposition to the federal deployments.
“This is a nation of constitutional law, not martial law,” said Mary B. Richardson-Lowry, Chicago’s Corporation Counsel. “The Trump administration’s actions set a dangerous precedent that undermines both state rights and the rule of law.”
The Illinois lawsuit follows a similar case in Oregon, where a federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the administration’s attempt to federalize the Oregon National Guard. In that decision, the court wrote that the president’s actions were “untethered to the facts” and that no emergency justified overriding state authority.
The dispute comes as multiple states report increasingly aggressive federal enforcement operations, particularly in Chicago and Portland, where local officials say troops have been deployed without coordination or consent.
With Illinois now challenging the administration in court, the standoff is poised to test the boundaries of presidential power under the Constitution — and could set a defining precedent for federal–state relations in the modern era.
