CERL’s Benjamin R. Farley, Claire Finkelstein, Brenner M. Fissell, and Mitt Regan argue at Just Security that the Supreme Court must rule against the Trump administration’s ability to unilaterally deploy U.S. troops to American cities such as Chicago in Trump v. Illinois. They write that power over the military is not exclusive to the president. Furthermore, the Courts owe much less deference to the president’s power to use the armed forces domestically than overseas against foreign adversaries. If the Supreme Court fails to take action in the Illinois case, then the system of checks and balances in the United States will be rendered moot, and the creation of a “military police state” will be well underway. 

Benjamin R. Farley is special counsel at the National Immigration Law Center, a Visiting (non-resident) Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Human Rights Center, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law. Read his bio here.  

Claire Finkelstein is the Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and the Faculty Director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law. Read her bio here. 

Brenner M. Fissell is professor of law (with tenure) at Villanova Law. Since 2024, he has been chair of faculty appointments and at-large member of the University Faculty Congress Executive Committee. He is concurrently Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law. Read his bio here. 

Mitt Regan is McDevitt Professor of Jurisprudence, Director of the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession, and Coordinator of the Program on Law, Ethics, and International Security Georgetown University Law Center. He is also a member of the CERL Advisory Council. Read his bio here. 

The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of any organization or university.