An appeals court on Monday overturned a temporary restraining order that prevented the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon.
The ruling by a panel of judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allows the Trump administration to deploy Oregon National Guard troops to the state.
A broader order prohibiting any state’s National Guard from deploying to Portland remains in effect..
Federal agents clash with anti-ICE protesters at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on October 12, 2025 in Portland, Oregon.
Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield condemned Monday’s ruling and said the 9th Circuit panel of judges “has decided not to hold the president accountable.”
He said in a statement that the Trump administration is likely to seek to dissolve the temporary restraining order preventing any state’s National Guard from deploying to Oregon in light of Monday’s ruling, and that his office urges the “full Ninth Circuit to vacate today’s decision before unlawful deployments can occur.”
“We will continue to fight for Oregon’s laws and values no matter what,” Rayfield added.
In late September, President Donald Trump issued an order federalizing 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to protect federal property. amid ongoing protests at an ICE facility in Portland, despite objections from local officials.
After the city of Portland and the state of Oregon sued, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut earlier this month barred the deployment of the Oregon National Guard to the Portland area, finding that conditions in Portland “were not significantly violent or disruptive” to justify a federal takeover of the National Guard, and that the president’s claims about the city “were simply not tied to the facts”.
The Ninth Circuit’s ruling on Monday concluded that the Trump administration was likely to succeed based on the merits of its appeal of the Immergut ruling.
“After considering the record at this preliminary stage, we conclude that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his legal authority” to federalize the National Guard, according to Monday’s order.
Two Trump-nominated judges, Ryan Nelson and Bridget Bade, ruled for the majority, finding that some of the protests at ICE facilities “have been peaceful, but many have turned violent, with protesters threatening federal law enforcement officers and the building.”
Judge Susan Graber, nominated by former President Bill Clinton, disagreed. In his dissent, he said Monday’s decision “is not simply absurd” but “erodes fundamental constitutional principles, including the control of sovereign states over their state militias and the First Amendment rights of the people to assemble and oppose government policies and actions.”
Immergut issued a second TRO earlier this month following the Trump administration’s attempt to deploy members of the California National Guard to Portland. The Trump administration has not formally appealed or challenged that order.
