Northwestern Law experts on National Guard in D.C., Trump’s vow to rid city of homeless population
‘The whole point of the system of state control of local law enforcement and of state militias is as a check against federal abuse of power,’ expert says
CHICAGO --- This week, President Trump became the first president to use a declared emergency to take over the Washington, D.C., police force and deploy the National Guard as part of what he describes as a nationwide crackdown on crime.
In addition to taking over the city’s police force, Trump has vowed to rid the city of its homeless population.
Trump has also threatened to take over other major cities like Chicago and New York, claiming the policies of Democratic leaders are soft on crime, even though the FBI has reported that violent crime in the U.S. decreased an estimated 4.5% in 2024 compared to 2023.
Paul Gowder, professor of law, is available to speak on the legality of the order.
Gowder focuses on the rule of law, democratic theory, social and racial equality, institutional and organizational governance, law and technology and classical Athenian law and political thought.
“The whole point of the system of state control of local law enforcement and of state militias is as a check against federal abuse of power. This has been true since the founding of the United States, and the only alteration to this system of divided power was after the Civil War,” said Paul Gowder, professor of law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. “Now Donald Trump’s authoritarian impulses are turning this basic constitutional presupposition of our federal system of government on its head. This is yet another way in which the current president has betrayed the basic constitutional structure of the United States and yet another ground for impeachment by any Congress that would be faithful to that structure.”
Full quote from Professor Gowder:
“The technical legalities of federal interference with state law enforcement are less important than its fundamental challenge to our constitutional system of government. The whole point of the system of state control of local law enforcement and of state militias is as a check against federal abuse of power. This has been true since the founding of the United States, and the only alteration to this system of divided power was after the Civil War, when the federal government was given the authority by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to intervene directly in state governance to purge the taint of the system of slavery from our nation. Since then, the only time that the federal government has used military force to overturn the autonomy of state governments over local law enforcement was yet again in order to further purge the taint of slavery by enforcing desegregation at the end of the Jim Crow period.
“Now Donald Trump’s authoritarian impulses are turning this basic constitutional presupposition of our federal system of government on its head. Federal control over military power is being abused to support a system of due process-free, snatch-and-grab immigration ‘enforcement’ against state opposition that bears a shocking resemblance to the conflicts over the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, to suppress lawful protest that is protected by the First Amendment, and to take over criminal jurisdiction from localities on the pretext of racist stereotypes about urban criminality. This is yet another way in which the current president has betrayed the basic constitutional structure of the United States and yet another ground for impeachment by any Congress that would be faithful to that structure.”
Ronald Allen, John Henry Wigmore Professor of Law
Allen is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of evidence, criminal procedure, and constitutional law.
He is unavailable 8/14 and 8/15
Daniel Rodriguez, Harold Washington Professor of Law, is available to speak on Trump’s plans to rid Washington of its homeless population.
Rodriguez’s academic work is in the areas of administrative law, local government law, statutory interpretation, federal and state constitutional law and the law-business-technology interface.
To get in contact with any of the professors, please reach out to Shanice Harris at shanice.harris@northwestern.edu.