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WASHINGTON (CN) — The D.C. attorney general sued President Donald Trump Friday over his federal takeover of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department, the first pushback against the administration’s unprecedented exertion of federal power this week.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, requesting a temporary restraining order to block the MPD’s federalization.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes was assigned the case and scheduled an emergency hearing for 2 p.m. EST on Friday.
On Monday, President Donald Trump invoked Section 740 of the Home Rule Act — a 1973 federal statute granting local control of D.C. to a city government — to effectively federalize the department by declaring a “crime emergency.”
Under that emergency, Trump mobilized about 800 members of the D.C. National Guard — with 100-200 members assisting in law enforcement activities on federal land — in addition to the 500 federal agents the administration ordered into the streets last week.
Trump placed U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi in charge of the MPD, with Drug Enforcement Agency administrator Terry Cole as interim federal police commissioner, but on Thursday Bondi ordered Cole be made the “emergency police commissioner,” effective immediately.
Bondi said that Chief of Police Pamela Smith and other senior leadership “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole before issuing any further directives to the MPD.”
The order further rescinded certain immigration enforcement policies barring MPD officers from inquiring about immigration status, arresting people based solely on ICE warrants and assisting with civil immigration laws.
In his suit, Schwalb challenged the move as clearly exceeding the “narrow delegation” Congress granted the president under the Home Rule Act.
He noted that Bondi’s order amounts to a “complete takeover of MPD,” granting Cole sweeping authority to issue commands and barring any independent action by the police department’s senior leadership.
“Section 740 does not authorize the brazen usurpation of the district’s authority over its own government,” Schwalb said. “That narrow statute permits the president and his delegee to request that the mayor provide the ‘services’ of MPD — nothing more. None of the directives in the Bondi order fall within the compass of that limited grant of authority.”
Schwalb requested Reyes, a Joe Biden appointee, issue an order ensuring MPD remains in the control of Smith and Mayor Muriel Bowser, warning that allowing the administration’s move to stand would result in immediate, devastating and irreparable harms.
“Most critically, the order threatens to upend the command structure of MPD and wreak operational havoc within the department, endangering the safety of the public and law enforcement officers alike,” Schwalb said. “There is no greater risk to public safety in a large, professional law enforcement organization like MPD than to not know who is in command.”
In a declaration, Smith said she and the department were “unaware” of Trump’s plan to assume control of the MPD before his Monday news conference. She warned that if Bondi’s order took effect, it would not only upend the department’s command structure but endanger the public and officers.
“In my nearly three decades in law enforcement, I have never seen a single government action that would cause a greater threat to law and order than this dangerous directive,” Smith wrote.
The MPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit follows a week of heightened tensions throughout the nation’s capital, with increased law enforcement presence in neighborhoods not usually considered high-crime areas.
In one incident Wednesday night, former Justice Department employee Sean Dunn apparently argued with Customs and Border Patrol Agents near U Street and 14th NW, a popular nightlife area.
Dunn was charged with a federal felony, assaulting an officer, on Thursday. The charge — one consistently levied against Jan. 6 insurrectionists — carries a maximum of eight years’ imprisonment. Dunn was released pending trial, with his next court date on Sept. 4.
That same night, ICE agents set up a roadblock that the MPD described as a “traffic safety compliance checkpoint.” According to the department, 344 cars passed through, officers stopped 28 vehicles, issued 38 infraction notices and arrested oner man for driving without a permit and counterfeit tags.
The checkpoint drew a crowd of nearly 100 residents gathering in protest, chanting “go home, fascists,” and holding signs to redirect people away.
According to the Trump administration, 111 people have been arrested since Monday, with 66 arrests over Monday and Tuesday and 45 on Wednesday. Of those arrested Wednesday, 29 were said to be noncitizens.
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