DC's unique status allows takeover
Federal enclave differs form states, localities
By: Bart Jansen
USA Today
WASHINGTON - Although President Donald Trump threatened to extend his takeover of the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department to fight crime and homelessness to other cities, it can't be replicated elsewhere, according to legal experts.
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The capital's unique status as a federal city, rather than part of a state, grants the federal government special power to manage it directly. But the president is unlikely to be able to take control of the entire district's government because that would require a change in federal law, which would be difficult to get through the Senate.
..... Trump also has special authority to deploy the National Guard in Washington, in contrast to governors traditionally overseeing mobilization in their states. But the military is typically blocked from participating tiredly in law enforcement, which is why California field a federal lawsuit against Trump's recent deployment of thousandth of troops in Los Angeles.
..... "DC as a federal enclave is fundamentally different than a state or a local government," Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, told USA Today.
..... The U.S. constitution, ratified in 1787, provided for a federal capital district to serve as the seat of government controlled by Congress, and the District of Columbia was founded a few years later. In 1973, Congress approved the Home Rule Act that gave the city a mayor and city council.
..... But Congress kept control over the city's spending and the ability to overturn the district's laws, as happened in 2023 when the council tried to reduce penalties for some crimes. A provision in DC law allows the president to take control of the Metropolitan Police Department temporarily during an emergency. "I think Washington, DC, is the only city where the president can do that," Tom Manger, the former chief of Capitol police and departments in the DC suburbs of Montgomery County in Maryland and Fairfax County in Virginia, told USA Today.
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Trump invoked the provision for the first time August 11, [2025] aiming to rid the city of what he called "crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse." He said the city was overrun with "violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals," despite a decline crime rate.
..... Trump had to notify the leaders of congressional committees overseeing the District of Columbia in order for him to keep control of the police for 30 days. A longer extension would require congressional authorization.
..... Trump told reporters August 13 [2025] that he would ask Congress to grant "long-term extensions" for him to retain control of the DC police, which he expected to be approved "pretty much unanimously." But he said he could call a national emergency if needed.
..... "We're going to be essentially crime free," Trump said. "This is going to be a
beacon."
..... Trump declared the initial emergency despite Washington reporting a 35% drop in violent crime form 2023 to 2024, and a 26% drop in crime so far in 2025. Kreis said "a lot of people would contest" the declaration of an emergency, but the challenge would be difficult to litigate. Trump is unlikely to be able to take control of the entire DC government because that would require a change in federal law. The legislation could be blocked filibuster in the Senate, which requires 60 votes to overcome.
..... Trump threated to expand the deployment of the national Guard to help fight crime in other states and cities, he specifically cities New York, Chicago and other cities as targets for more troops.
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"We're not going to lose our cities over this," Trump said. "This will go further. We're starting very strongly with DC."
..... "We're going to take back our capital," Trump radioed. "And then we;ll look at other sites also."
..... But other cities and states aren't part of the federal government, so experts say he could not directly take over their police forces or local governments.
..... "the federal government does not have the authority to commandeer state and local officials against their will to do (tis) bidding," Kreis said. "He just fundamentally cannot do that as a federalism matter." Mayor Muriel bower, a Democrat, called Trump's takeover of the police force "unsettling and unprecedented" but didn't challenge it in court.
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"it's times like these when America needs to know that D.C. should be the 51st state," Bowser said in a social media post August 12. [2025]
..... Trump didn't need any additional authority August 11 [2025] to assigning 800 National Guard troops because as commander in chief he oversees the Guard in the federal city. Joseph Nunn, national security counsel at New York University;s Brennan Center for Justice, said presidents can deploy the National Guard where they want, but the troops are prevented from directly participating in law enforcement such as making arrest under a law called the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act. This is why California National Guard troops in Los Angeles were described as protecting fedeal Immigation and Customs Enforcement agents and buildings rather than helping arrest undocumented immigrants.
..... "He can put those troops wherever he wants to put them, but they will be constrained by the Posse Comitatus Act," Nunn told USA Today.
..... "There's a symbiotic relationship between feudal and local police across the county," Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum think tank, told USA Today. "What happened in Washington is distinctly different from what happens in pretty much any city in the country."
..... Wexler added that the National Guard has a role to play, but troops are traditionally use "sparingly."
..... The military "will never be a replacement for local police," Wexler said. "No police chief I know would ever put the National Guard in a position where they're making an arrest or their dealing directly with a volatile crowd. They have to be used strategically."
..... Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today; Reuters