Gov. Josh Shapiro has engaged the White House in a bitter back-and-forth about President Donald Trump’s authority to deploy the National Guard into Pennsylvania, should he decide to. The Shapiro administration issued a statement confirming their preparedness should the president direct federal troops into Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.
In addition to rebuking Trump’s legal ability to send the federal militia into Pennsylvania, Shapiro took personal issue with the White House’s crime enforcement tactics. “I think what the President is doing is wrong,” Shapiro said,“I think what the president is doing injects chaos into communities.”
Trump sparked controversy throughout the summer by deploying the National Guard first into Los Angeles, California, then into Washington, D.C. Trump also expressed interest in ordering the National Guard into Chicago, New Orleans and Baltimore, cities he claims are dangerous and crime-ridden.
State and local officials critical of the Trump administration, including Shapiro, have protested, saying the President of the United States lacks the legal ability to federalize the National Guard for crime prevention. Typically, the National Guard is controlled by state governors. The President may only deploy them when a governor gives him permission, or when there is an insurrection or a domestic emergency.
When Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles in June, he did so without the permission of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Trump claimed ongoing protests against the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers constituted a sufficient “insurrection or a domestic emergency.” A federal court disagreed and ruled his deployment illegal. Despite this ruling, Trump threatened to send the National Guard into more cities to combat alleged crime and violence.
Trump did not identify any cities in Pennsylvania as targets for National Guard deployment. The Shapiro administration in Pennsylvania, however, is bracing for Trump to send troops anyway. The White House, in response to Shapiro’s warning, issued a fiery statement castigating Shapiro as “[a]nother wannabe Presidential candidate […] desperate to get into the news cycle by attacking the President’s highly successful operations to drive down violent crime.”
Pennsylvania officials remained defiant. Larry Krasner, the District Attorney of Philadelphia, who is highly critical of Trump, called out Trump, a Republican, for exclusively targeting Democratic-run cities in his National Guard threats. Allies of Trump insist the President sent troops to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., merely for their crime problems, not for partisan reasons, with the same being true for the cities he has only threatened.
Should Trump deploy the National Guard into a Democratic-led state like Pennsylvania or Illinois, having already been defeated in court for sending the militia into Democratic California, it will mark a major test of presidential authority in the face of states’ rights. Throughout Trump’s second term as President, he has continued to push the boundaries of executive power, according to William A. Galston, a Senior Fellow of Governance Studies at the independent think tank Brookings.
Many have celebrated Trump for taking strong initiative to solve problems in Americans’ lives. Others criticize him for overstepping his bounds and invading people’s lives. Shapiro, in response to the White House statement lambasting him, made clear his view that he is ready to have a fight over presidential authority in Pennsylvania if Trump brings it. “Anyone who tries to undermine Pennsylvanians’ fundamental freedoms will have to go through me,” Shapiro said.
