ELLY GRIMM

   • Leader & Times

There are many national leaders expressing concern about the use of U.S. military forces, and Gov. Laura Kelly is among them.

Tuesday, Gov. Kelly joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general and two governors in filing an amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, urging the court to deny the Trump administration’s appeal and uphold a lower court’s ruling blocking the unlawful deployment of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., according to a release from the State of Kansas.

“I have previously stood against infringement of the nation’s governors’ authority to command their National Guards, and I join this brief to preserve the purpose of the National Guard,” Gov. Kelly noted in the State of Kansas release. “Deploying the National Guard to serve as a domestic police force undermines fundamental tenets of our democracy and pulls National Guard servicemembers away from their primary responsibilities to their states and their communities.”

Gov. Kelly and the coalition argue the deployment undermines the sovereignty of states and local jurisdictions and threatens the foundational principle of American democracy that the military must remain under civilian control.

“Courts have repeatedly rejected the administration’s deployments in American cities, and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to deploy the National Guard in Illinois,” the State of Kansas noted. “Yet the President continues the deployment in Washington, D.C. and has stated his intent to send troops to more American cities, “one by one.” Continuing this deployment in defiance of those rulings poses an ongoing threat to civilian authority and democratic governance. The brief documents serious harm in states that have already experienced these deployments, including disrupted law enforcement operations, economic damage to local communities, diverted National Guard resources, and increased civil unrest.”

The coalition urges the D.C. Circuit to uphold the district court’s ruling and affirm that the President does not have the authority to deploy the National Guard as a domestic police force.

Gov. Kelly is joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the offices of the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania in filing the brief.