‘Unwise’: Justice Alito issues warning as Supreme Court blocks Trump’s National Guard plan
Justice Samuel Alito is issued a warning as the majority of the members of the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a plan by President Donald Trump to use National Guard members for restoring order in Chicago.
“Whatever one may think about the current administration’s enforcement of the immigration laws or the way ICE has conducted its operations, the protection of federal officers from potentially lethal attacks should not be thwarted,” Alito wrote.
He said the 6-3 decision against Trump’s plan to deploy troops to Chicago was “unwise” and “imprudent.”
He noted the agitators were “hindering immigration officers and other federal personnel from doing their jobs in Chicago and that the National Guard needed to step in to help,” according to a report at Fox News
Justice Alito did not pull any punches in his dissent on SCOTUS permitting a lower court judge to block the president’s National Guard deployment to Chicago. @FDRLST 1/ pic.twitter.com/So4r2aJOHu
— Shawn Fleetwood (@ShawnFleetwood) December 24, 2025
In an apparent 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court has BLOCKED President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Illinois, denying the government’s application for a stay.
Justice Alito dissents joined by Thomas. Gorsuch dissents. Kavanaugh concurs. pic.twitter.com/JLfpjbaNxb
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) December 23, 2025
The fight was over Trump’s use of a federal law to federalize about 200 members of the National Guard and use them to protect federal personnel and buildings in the often-lawless Chicago.
Protesters were obstructing, assaulting and threatening ICE officers, so there was the need for the additional security in light of the refusal on the part of Illinois’ Democrats to address the problems.
Lower courts claimed Trump hadn’t proven that he was “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States,” and the high court’s 6-3 ruling agreed.
Justice Clarence Thomas joined in the objections with Alito, who said that the Constitution allows the president “to use the military to respond to war, insurrection or ‘other serious emergency.'”
Alito warned, with the president facing pushback on his plans for law and order in multiple cities, that forcing him to exhaust the use of other military forces before using the National Guard would lead to “outlandish results.”
“Under the Court’s interpretation, National Guard members could arrest and process aliens who are subject to deportation, but they would lack statutory authorization to perform purely protective functions. Our country has traditionally been wary of using soldiers as domestic police, but it has been comfortable with their use for purely protective purposes.”