Leading Pro-Democracy Legal Organization Files Brief Highlighting Errors in “Dangerously Incorrect” Department of Justice Legal Opinion
Washington, D.C. – Democracy Forward today submitted a friend of the court brief in support of the District of Columbia’s request for a district court to stop the Trump-Vance administration’s unlawful deployment of the D.C. National Guard, which has undermined civilian control of the nation’s capital and threatened core tenets of American democracy. In a brief submitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Democracy Forward detailed flaws and the misguided legal framework used by the U.S. Department of Justice in an attempt to justify the unlawful use of armed forces against Americans.
“President Trump’s legal justification for his unlawful militarization is just plain wrong,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “The Justice Department is using flawed reasoning to trample the Constitution in a dangerous power grab befitting a dictatorship – not a democracy. Democracy Forward and our partners will continue to defend our democracy and the people it serves from these autocratic power grabs.”
On August 11, 2025, President Trump issued an order authorizing D.C. National Guardsmen “to carry weapons in support of law enforcement” as they patrol the streets of Washington, D.C. That order, and subsequent orders executing it, are in conflict with the Constitution and the law. Since Reconstruction, the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA) has clearly stated that the Army may not be used for purposes of civil law enforcement, unless expressly authorized by the Constitution or an Act of Congress. Nevertheless, the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) of the U.S. Department of Justice adopted the opinion that the D.C. National Guard does not constitute any part of the Army when it operates in its state militia capacity, even though the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the militia and it reports through the Army’s chain of command.
The legal team at Democracy Forward on this matter includes Bradley Girard and Brian Netter.
The President’s incursion into Washington, D.C., came as the White House has been desperate to redirect the media and public’s attention away from the administration’s continued mishandling of processes related to the handling of the Epstein Files. Last month, Democracy Forward sued the Trump-Vance administration in the first lawsuit to be filed over the administration’s handling of these records, seeking access to documents that include senior administration officials’ communications regarding Epstein documents from the DOJ and the FBI.
Read the friend of the court brief submitted in District of Columbia v. Donald Trump here.
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Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.