Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law professor emeritus, told Newsmax on Friday that President Donald Trump is likely to prevail in the long legal fight over his deployment of National Guard troops to Illinois — despite a U.S. district judge’s ruling temporarily blocking the move.
Dershowitz told “The Record With Greta Van Susteren” that although U.S. District Judge April Perry “may be right on the merits,” her ruling Thursday raises a deeper constitutional issue: whether the judiciary can overrule the president on national security and federal law enforcement.
“The real question is, Who has the right to be wrong?” he said. “Is it the executive or is it the judiciary? Judges sit in ivory towers. They don't see the street. They don't have real access to what's going on. They can hear evidence, of course, but I suspect in the end, the president's power will be upheld.
“Maybe not to declare it [an insurrection] or an invasion, but to protect federal troops and to enforce federal law that's not covered by the 10th Amendment or any of the other powers that are limited only to the state.”
The temporary restraining order issued by Perry, a Joe Biden appointee, blocks the Trump administration from deploying hundreds of National Guard troops to Illinois for 14 days, through Oct. 23.
Perry ruled the action likely violated the 10th and 14th Amendments and the Posse Comitatus Act, a Reconstruction-era law restricting the military’s role in domestic policing.
The Department of Justice immediately appealed. The Trump administration has consistently argued that National Guard deployment is essential to protect federal agents and property during ongoing immigration protests.
Dershowitz said Trump might face setbacks in lower courts but predicted that “the president will lose battles along the way, but in the end will win the war.”
He emphasized that the president’s authority to protect federal personnel and enforce federal law is broader than governors’ powers over local enforcement.
“The power of the president is not limited only to preventing insurrections,” he said. “He has this extraordinary power to protect federal troops, and federal troops have the power to be in Illinois and Chicago and Portland in order to enforce immigration law.”
Dershowitz said the Illinois case is almost certain to reach the Supreme Court, which he expects will ultimately affirm Trump’s constitutional authority.
“My prediction is the court will ultimately say, look, maybe the president's wrong, but the president has the authority to make these decisions, not the judiciary,” he said.
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