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.
