Trump’s Portland troop deployment allowed for now by Appeals Court

The panel decided 2-1 that a lower court judge who temporarily blocked the deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard members to Portland had failed to give sufficient deference to Trump’s decision and downplayed acts of violence by people protesting the president’s immigration crackdown.

“The evidence the president relied on reflects a colorable assessment of the facts and law within a range of honest judgment,” the majority said, rejecting Oregon’s argument that Trump’s assessment of the protest situation in Portland was out-of-date and not made in good faith. “We thus conclude that defendants are likely to succeed on the merits of their appeal.”

The two judges who sided with the administration were both appointed by Trump. The third, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, wrote a blistering dissent that called for a larger panel of her colleagues to reconsider the ruling through a so-called en banc review — a request typically made by the party that loses the decision.