ACLU Supporter, major news: The Supreme Court just upheld a block on President Trump's attempt to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago.

Although the legal fight isn't over, this is a huge win for our liberties. Turning troops on civilians is an intolerable threat to our communities. The ACLU of Illinois already went to court and successfully blocked the Trump administration from indiscriminately using tear gas and other chemical weapons against the press, protestors, and people just trying to go about their daily lives.

This new Supreme Court decision upholds lower court rulings that blocked troop deployments to Chicago. The ACLU and its partners filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Supreme Court, explaining that the founders of this country feared and rejected the military's use as a tool of oppression and would have viewed President Trump's claims of unreviewable authority to deploy troops in response to political protest as an intolerable threat to liberty.

The ACLU has been sounding the alarm about these dangerous deployments from the very beginning. Since the Trump administration first deployed National Guard troops and active-duty Marines to intimidate and silence Los Angeles protestors in June, our community has sent over 400,000 messages to Congress condemning these deployments.

The people have sent a clear message: If President Trump wants to send troops and armed federal agents into our communities to suppress our rights, he'll have to answer to us.

Today's ruling provides a necessary block on this blatant abuse of power. We'll keep you updated as the state of Illinois – and other states and cities across the country – continue the work to keep troops off our streets.

Thanks for all you do,

Hina Shamsi
Pronouns: She, her, hers
Director, ACLU National Security Project

P.S. Want to join the work challenging President Trump's abuse of power? Urge your Senator to co-sponsor a new bill that limits domestic military deployments, enhances oversight, and protects our communities.