Washington DC’s leaders are challenging an unprecedented federal move to seize control of the city’s police force, taking the dispute to court in a clash that pits local autonomy against White House authority.
The lawsuit, filed by DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb, accuses the US government of “illegally declaring a takeover” of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Schwalb argues that the Justice Department is stretching the limits of the Home Rule Act — a 1970s law giving presidents certain powers over the capital’s police — far beyond its intent.
At the centre of the dispute is US Attorney General Pam Bondi’s late-night order installing the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terry Cole, as DC’s “emergency police commissioner.” Under that order, Police Chief Pamela Smith must seek Cole’s approval before issuing any directives — a condition Mayor Muriel Bowser calls “unlawful” and “an authoritarian push.”
President Donald Trump had paved the way earlier in the week, invoking the Home Rule Act to justify deploying hundreds of National Guard troops and federal agents across the city. He has cited rising crime and pledged to “restore order,” a claim contradicted by police data showing violent offences have fallen sharply over the past two years, reaching their lowest levels in three decades.
Read also: US Officially Invites Chinese Foreign Minister To Washington
Federal agents and troops have already been stationed at monuments and tourist areas, with armoured vehicles visible along nightlife corridors. Checkpoints have sprung up, and officials say up to 1,300 combined federal and military personnel will be operating in the city in the coming days.
For some, the move recalls earlier moments of federal intervention. In 1989, President George HW Bush sent in 200 National Guard troops during a crack cocaine crime wave, though they were barred from street patrols. More recently, the Guard was deployed after the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot and during the 2020 racial justice protests.
Bondi says her decision is already producing results, pointing to 156 arrests and 27 seized firearms this week alone. But DC’s government insists there is no public safety emergency — only a legal one — and is asking a federal judge to block the order before the new commissioner settles into his post.