Conservative watchdog claims DC lacks standing to sue over National Guard

FIRST ON FOX: A conservative watchdog on Wednesday urged a federal appeals court to dismiss the National Guard’s lawsuit in Washington, D.C., arguing that the city cannot sue itself because it is part of the federal government.

“To begin with, you cannot sue yourself,” Oversight Project lawyers wrote in a brief in the case. “And that’s ultimately what this case is: The United States is suing itself. Furthermore, it is a fundamental principle of law that a municipal corporation cannot sue its sovereign creator.”

The call sits at the intersection of Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Washington last year and D.C.’s long-running fight for self-government. What began as a lawsuit over the deployment of the president’s forces to the capital has now morphed into a preliminary legal battle over whether the District has the right to challenge that decision in federal court.

Lawyers with the Oversight Project told Fox News Digital in an interview that if Washington appeals court judges agree with them, the decision would go well beyond the National Guard lawsuit, which arose last year when the Trump administration began deploying military forces to blue cities in several jurisdictions to support immigration agents and, in the case of D.C., to make the city “safe and beautiful.”

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Members of the National Guard patrol around Washington, DC, March 26, 2026. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

“If the justices find our argument valid, it will sort of restore the normal system, which is that D.C. is entirely subordinate to the federal government and these disputes will be resolved politically,” said Sam Dewey, an attorney with the Oversight Project.

The proper recourse for D.C. against the federal government on any issue would be for the D.C. Council to turn to the president and Congress, not the courts, Dewey said.

The case stems from D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s lawsuit last September, arguing that Trump had encroached on the city’s perceived independence by ignoring “Congress’s decision a half-century ago to grant District residents ‘the powers of local self-government.’

A three-judge panel temporarily stayed a lower court’s injunction against the administration while the appeals court continues to review the merits of the case. Two of the panel’s judges, both appointed by Trump, wrote in a concurring opinion that the pause was necessary because DC did not, in fact, have standing to sue, echoing what the Oversight Project detailed in its new amicus brief in the case.

“We have never recognized that the District possesses independent sovereignty that could give rise to an Article III injury as a result of the federal government’s actions,” the two Trump-appointed judges wrote.

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The Trump administration deployed federal officers and the National Guard to the District in order to bring the Washington Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and assist in crime prevention in the nation’s capital in 2025. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump began deploying National Guard forces to cities across the country last year as part of an effort to support immigration authorities, who are facing waves of protests and riots following their deportation efforts. The Supreme Court intervened, however, saying the deployment was likely illegal under the law Trump invoked. The order applied to cities like Portland, Oregon; and Chicago, but not DC, due to the district’s unique status.

In Washington, DC, Trump extended the presence of about 2,600 National Guard troops until the end of 2026, and the president has indicated he hopes to extend that deadline further, despite continued opposition from Democratic leaders in Washington.

“It’s actually training. I don’t ever want to take them out of Washington, I mean, maybe someone will do it later,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting last month.

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People participate in a rally against the Trump administration’s federal takeover of the District of Columbia, in front of the AFL-CIO, August 11, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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Trial briefings are expected to extend into May and the appeals court could then schedule oral arguments before making a decision on the legality of the National Guard’s presence and activities.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Schwalb’s office for comment.