Kat Lonsdorf

So in October, the administration issued an emergency appeal up to the Supreme Court.

Well, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson reiterated to NPR that the president activated the Guard to protect federal law enforcement officers and property.

And she said nothing in the ruling, quote, detracts from that core agenda.

But this was another in a recent series of legal setbacks for the administration against these deployments.

Governor Pritzker called it, quote, a big win for Illinois and American democracy.

I'll also note, Steve, minutes after the ruling, Louisiana's Governor Jeff Landry, who's a Republican, announced that he'll be sending hundreds of National Guard troops into New Orleans soon.

And this follows a pattern of Republican governors embracing these deployments like we've seen in Tennessee.

Well, because this is an emergency decision, it's not precedent setting, meaning it only applies to this specific case in Illinois at this specific time, not to the other deployments around the country.

But all of those are caught up in litigation now, and lower courts do tend to look, at least look at these emergency decisions for guidance.

I talked to Elizabeth Goitin.

She directs the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

She told me she thinks this decision will impact lower courts wrestling with these cases.

And just to be clear, this might not be the last we hear from the Supreme Court on this issue, but at least for now, the president cannot send National Guard troops to Illinois without the governor's permission.

Thanks so much.

President Trump had argued the need to federalize the National Guard against Illinois Governor J.B.

Pritzker's wishes in order to stop what the administration said was unremitting violence against federal immigration agents in the city.

But two lower courts ruled against such claims, and the administration issued an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court back in October.

In an unsigned opinion, the high court ruled 6-3 against Trump, saying that, quote, the government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws of Illinois.

The decision, which does not set precedent, is one of only a handful of times the conservative court has ruled against the president in the emergency docket in this term.

Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Washington.