All eyes are on the U.S. Supreme Court after the Trump administration agreed Wednesday that a lower court’s order blocking National Guard deployment within Illinois could remain in effect while the high court decides whether to intervene.
The surprise move raised eyebrows in a Chicago courtroom. And it suggests the White House is “banking on a Supreme Court ruling in their favor,” a legal expert told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Still, if the Supreme Court sides with Illinois, National Guard deployment could be blocked here for the foreseeable future.
U.S. District Judge April Perry on Oct. 9 stopped President Donald Trump from deploying Illinois and Texas National Guard troops here. Gov. JB Pritzker has objected to the deployment, and Perry’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Illinois and Chicago.
Her order has since been challenged before the Supreme Court, which has yet to rule. The order was also temporary and set to expire Thursday.
So Perry took the bench again Wednesday morning to determine how the case should proceed in the meantime. She told the lawyers “I will follow the instructions of any higher court that weighs in.” But she noted that it’s not clear when the Supreme Court will rule.
The judge reminded the lawyers that her order could only be extended once, and only for 14 days — unless both sides agreed to a longer extension.
Lawyers in the case participated in the hearing by phone.
The judge gave them most of the day to consider how they wanted to proceed and returned to the bench in the afternoon. That’s when Justice Department lawyer Jody Lowenstein told her, by phone, that he’d agree to an extension “until final judgment.”
Perry raised her eyebrows when she heard the news. When she asked Illinois attorney Christopher Wells for his thoughts, Wells told her that he and his co-counsel were inclined to take the Trump administration up on its proposal.
“It’s also critical for us that, in the event the Supreme Court’s ruling alters the status quo, we will likely be requesting some form of accelerated proceedings,” Wells said.
Ultimately, Perry agreed to extend her order until a “final judgment on the merits.” She noted on the court docket that the lengthy extension was proposed by the Trump administration — an explicit acknowledgment sought by Wells.
When Perry asked him why that was important to him, Wells told her that “we’re very concerned about possible gamesmanship in other courts and how what’s happening here is going to be portrayed.”
Chicago trial attorney Mike Leonard said after the hearing that the extension appears to be “great news” for the lawyers seeking to block National Guard deployment.
Still, he said, the Justice Department seems to be “banking on a Supreme Court ruling in their favor.”
“They must be thinking that’s a strong possibility,” he said.
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this month ordered 300 members of the Illinois National Guard and 400 members of the Texas National Guard into a “protective mission” meant to safeguard federal personnel and property around Chicago.
Illinois and Chicago sued Oct. 6 and asked Perry to block the deployment. She did so three days later, finding that the Trump administration’s “perception of events” around Chicago is “simply unreliable.”
Perry was nominated to the bench in 2024 by President Joe Biden.
A three-judge panel from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed last week to mostly keep Perry’s order in place, declaring “political opposition is not rebellion.” That opinion came from Judges Ilana Rovner, David Hamilton and Amy St. Eve.
Rovner was nominated to the appellate court by President George H.W. Bush; Hamilton was nominated by President Barack Obama, and St. Eve was nominated by Trump.
Solicitor General John Sauer asked the Supreme Court on Friday to undo Perry’s order, arguing that she had “impermissibly” substituted her judgment for Trump’s on military matters and accepted an “implausibly rosy assessment” from state and local officials.
Lawyers for Illinois and Chicago have said the Supreme Court should decline the Trump administration’s request “to take the dramatic step of permitting deployment of National Guard troops over Illinois’ objection.”