U.S. Soldiers from the South Carolina National Guard and U.S. Army and Air Force service members from the West Virginia National Guard receive a briefing prior to being deputized as part of D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, Washington, D.C., Aug. 19, 2025. Approximately 800 National Guard service members comprise JTF-DC, supporting the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force. These National Guard service members provide critical support, including crowd management, presence patrols, and perimeter control, in support of law enforcement. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Amber Peck)

CHARLESTON – Even as soldiers with the West Virginia National Guard begin arriving in Washington, D.C., to meet President Donald Trump’s call to help quell crime in the nation’s capital, a lawsuit could undo that deployment.

The West Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU-WV) and West Virginia Citizens Action Group (WV CAG) filed a lawsuit late Thursday against Gov. Patrick Morrisey and Maj. Gen. James Seward, the adjutant general of the West Virginia National Guard.

The lawsuit, filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court, is seeking a permanent injunction to block the recent deployment of the National Guard to Washington and a declaratory judgement that the deployment exceeds statutory and constitutional authority.

“West Virginia Citizen Action Group has deep concerns about the Governor’s deployment of the West Virginia National Guard to Washington, D.C.,” said WV CAG Executive Director Dani Parent. “As an organization with over 50 years of advocating and organizing West Virginians for accountability, justice, and good governance, we believe that the use of West Virginia’s National Guard troops in this context is a clear misuse of power.”

The permanent injunction seeks to prohibit Morrisey from ordering the deployment of National Guard soldiers outside of the state and prohibit Seward from complying with unlawful directives to send National Guard units or civilian employees outside the state.

“This action challenges an unprecedented and unlawful deployment of West Virginia National Guard forces beyond our state’s borders–not to defend against invasion, not to respond to natural disaster, not to assist a sister state’s emergency request–but to serve as political props in a manufactured crisis,” wrote Aubrey Sparks, the legal director for the ACLU-WV, in Thursday’s court filing.

In a press release last Saturday, Morrisey announced that he was sending between 300 and 400 personnel with the National Guard to Washington at the request of President Donald Trump. This comes after Trump announced a federal takeover of law enforcement functions in D.C., citing instances of violent crime. Trump called up the D.C. National Guard, FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies to help quell crime.

“Pursuant to my authority under the Constitution and laws of the United States and the District of Columbia, I direct the Secretary of Defense to mobilize the District of Columbia National Guard and order members to active service, in such numbers as he deems necessary, to address the epidemic of crime in our Nation’s capital,” Trump wrote in his Aug. 11 executive order.

“Further, I direct the Secretary of Defense to coordinate with State Governors and authorize the orders of any additional members of the National Guard to active service, as he deems necessary and appropriate, to augment this mission,” Trump’s executive order continued.

“The West Virginia National Guard was mobilized at the request of the President under the authority in United States Code, Title 32 502(f),” Drew Galang, deputy press secretary for the Governor’s Office, said in a statement Thursday evening. “West Virginia is proud to support our neighbors and the Commander-in-Chief when called upon.”

“The West Virginia National Guard does not comment on active litigation to ensure the integrity of the legal process and to respect all parties involved,” said a spokesperson for the West Virginia National Guard.

Answering a request for additional National Guard assets, West Virginia, Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, and South Carolina have also agreed to send units to Washington. But Sparks argued in her filing that Morrisey’s deployment of National Guard assets violates state law.

“Governor Patrick Morrisey has exceeded his constitutional and statutory authority by ordering West Virginia service members to abandon their families, jobs, and communities to police the streets of our nation’s capital, where violent crime has reached its lowest level in thirty years,” Sparks wrote.

“West Virginia law is clear: The Governor may deploy the National Guard outside our borders only for specific, enumerated purposes–none of which exist here,” Sparks continued. “The Governor cannot transform our citizen-soldiers into a roving police force available at the whim of federal officials who bypass proper legal channels.”

The complaint argues that the deployment violates the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) and established territorial limitations on state authority.

“EMAC permits assistance, and the mobilization of the National Guard, only for requests for assistance made by the authorized representative of the State (‘including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and all United States territorial possessions’),” Sparks wrote. “No request for West Virginia Guard assistance [was] made by Washington D.C. officials.”