DC Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb speaks during a DC Mayoral and Council swearing-in ceremony at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Monday January 2, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Matt McClain | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit Friday challenging President Donald Trump’s unprecedented takeover of the U.S. capital city’s police force.
“The Administration’s actions are brazenly unlawful,” Schwalb said in a statement after his suit was filed in U.S. District Court in D.C.
“They go well beyond the bounds of the President’s limited authority and instead seek a hostile takeover of [the Metropolitan Police Department]. They infringe on the District’s right to self-governance and put the safety of DC residents and visitors at risk,” he said.
Trump signed an executive order Monday commanding Mayor Muriel Bowser to temporarily hand over the MPD to the federal government, while pressuring Congress to let him keep that control for longer.
His order asserted emergency powers over D.C. by invoking a never-before-used section of the Home Rule Act, the 52-year-old law that established district’s local government.
“This is an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call DC home,” Schwalb said in his statement. “Our office will go to court to defend Home Rule, block the unlawful orders, and maintain MPD under District control.”
The suit was filed hours after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered D.C.’s chief of police to cede authority to U.S. Drug Enforcement administrator Terry Cole.
Bowser called Bondi’s order unlawful and told Police Chief Pamela Smith that she is “not legally obligated to follow it.”
Schwalb is asking a federal judge to vacate Bondi’s order and block any future attempts to wrest control of the D.C. police force “or otherwise attempt to direct local law enforcement activities.”
He also seeks a declaration that Trump’s executive order violates the U.S. Constitution’s provision enshrining a separation of governmental powers.
The lawsuit names as defendants Trump, Bondi, the Department of Justice, Cole and the Drug Enforcement Administration itself, along with the U.S. Marshals Service and its director, Gadyaces Serralta.
Trump has also deployed about 800 National Guard members to D.C. this week as part of his efforts to address what he claims is out-of-control violent crime in the nation’s capital.
He has brushed off official statistics showing that numerous categories of unlawful activity in D.C., including violent crime, have dropped by double-digit percentages in the past year.
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