President Donald Trump took the unprecedented step on Monday of federalizing control over Washington, D.C., deploying the National Guard and seizing command of the city’s police force. The president asserted the actions were necessary to combat crime, even as city officials countered with data showing a decline in violence.
The move leverages unique constitutional and statutory powers that grant the federal government more authority over the nation’s capital than other U.S. cities. Although the 1973 Home Rule Act granted Washington—a historically majority-Black city—the power to elect its own mayor and city council, it left significant oversight with the president and Congress. However, no president had previously invoked the authority to take control of local law enforcement.
National Guard Activation
The U.S. Constitution establishes the District of Columbia as the seat of the federal government under the direct jurisdiction of Congress. While the Home Rule Act delegated many powers, the president retains the authority to deploy the National Guard in the city. The Trump administration previously did so during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, an event in which Guard members were later criticized for flying a helicopter low over a crowd. The Guard was also deployed during Trump’s first term on January 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
The action in Washington comes amid a separate legal dispute over Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to another Democrat-led city, Los Angeles, over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom. While the president’s authority is less clear in California, an appellate court has so far declined to intervene, and a lower court began a three-day trial on Monday to determine if that deployment violates federal law.
Control of the Police Force
Section 740 of the Home Rule Act allows the president to assume control of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department for 48 hours during emergencies, with the potential for extensions up to 30 days. Monica Hopkins, executive director of the ACLU of D.C., confirmed that no president has ever used this provision.
President Trump justified the move by citing recent high-profile crimes, including the murder of a 21-year-old congressional intern and the beating of a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee during an attempted robbery. “This is liberation day in D.C., and we are going to take back our Capitol,” the president stated.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, called the federal takeover “unprecedented.” She noted that overall violent crime in the city had fallen to a 30-year low after a spike in 2023. Carjackings, for instance, dropped by approximately 50% in 2024 and have continued to decrease this year. A point of federal contention, however, remains the sentencing of juvenile offenders, who account for more than half of all arrests.
Uncertain Future
The duration and full implications of the federal takeover remain unclear and could face legal challenges. While Congress retains power over the city’s budget and can overturn laws passed by the D.C. Council, it would need to repeal the Home Rule Act entirely to further expand federal authority—a move some Republican lawmakers have supported but which would face staunch opposition from most Democrats.
The law is specific to the District of Columbia and does not directly affect other communities with “home rule” powers relative to their state governments. However, Hopkins of the ACLU warned that President Trump’s actions in Washington could foreshadow similar tactics in other cities. “That should alarm everyone,” she said, “not just those in D.C.”
