WASHINGTON – A federal judge refused an initial request from DC officials to block President Donald Trump’s takeover of the Metropolitan Police Force, which is authorized during an emergency.
Instead, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes told the Justice Department on Aug. 15 to rewrite Attorney General Pam Bondi’s order so that federal officials would order the mayor to make changes in policing, which the law says the mayor “shall” do, rather than directly control police officers.
Reyes said she couldn’t decide on other issues in DC’s lawsuit against the Trump administration until after collecting evidence at a hearing next week.
“I am not going to rule today based on whether there is a national emergency,” said Reyes, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden. “I don’t think I can get into that in any meaningful way without an evidentiary hearing.”
Reyes asked the Justice Department and DC lawyers to reach a temporary agreement rather than reach a “crisis,” as no judge has ever ruled on a police takeover under DC’s 1973 Home Rule Act. Trump, on Aug. 11, became the first U.S. president to invoke the provision to temporarily oversee the police.
Reyes said the law didn’t necessarily allow Trump, through Bondi and her choice for interim police commissioner, Terry Cole, to require the police department to get permission from federal officials before carrying out its duties.
“I still do not understand on what basis the president, through the attorney general, through Mr. Cole, can say: ‘You, police department, can’t do anything unless you say I can,’” Reyes said.
Bondi issued a new order late Aug. 15 reiterating that Cole would be the federal liaison with the police department and outlining changes to policing that directed “the mayor to immediately provide.”
DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb had argued in his lawsuit that Trump exceeded his authority when he invoked a section of the federal law by declaring a local crime emergency to take control of the police.
His lawsuit named Trump, Bondi, Cole, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, whom Bondi named as emergency DC police commissioner, and Gadyaces Serralta, director of the U.S. Marshals Service, as defendants.
Trump seized control of DC’s police force and deployed 800 National Guard troops to bolster law enforcement − despite a declining crime rate in the capital in 2024 and 2025 − and relocate homeless people. The law granted Trump that authority in DC because of the city’s unique status as the seat of the federal government.
The emergency provision Trump invoked gives him control of the police department for 30 days. He said he would propose legislation for long-term control of the DC police that he expected the Republicans who control Congress to approve nearly unanimously.
“The Trump administration has the lawful authority to assert control over the D.C. police, which is necessary due to the emergency that has arisen in our nation’s capital as a result of failed leadership,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.
DC Police Chief Pamela Smith submitted a sworn statement in the case saying the police force “has always cooperated with federal partners” such as on task forces for safe streets, money laundering, carjacking, firearms trafficking and drug trafficking.
But Smith said Bondi’s order to take over the police force would strip away her control of policy and personnel and would “wreak operational havoc within MPD and create tremendous risk for the public.”
“If effectuated, the Bondi Order would upend the command structure of MPD, endangering the safety of the public and law enforcement officers alike,” Smith said. “In my nearly three decades in law enforcement, I have never seen a single government action that would cause a greater threat to law and order than this dangerous directive.”
This story has been updated to include new information.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Judge leaves Trump in charge of DC police through orders to mayor
