Less than 12 hours after the Trump administration seemingly replaced Washington, D.C.’s, police chief with a federal officer, the District is headed to federal court to block the move.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit against the federal government Friday, claiming President Donald Trump has far exceeded the authority granted him in D.C.’s Home Rule Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution.
Schwalb is seeking a temporary restraining order and to block U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Thursday night order naming the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as D.C.’s “emergency police commissioner” with all the powers of the police chief.
It also aims to ensure that Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith remains in control of D.C.’s police department. The lawsuit comes less than a week after the historic federalization of D.C.’s police department.
In a press release announcing the suit, Schwalb’s office says, “Congress did not grant the President authority to displace the Chief of Police, assert operational control over MPD or rescind MPD policies – as the Administration seeks to do.”
Schwalb said it’s the greatest threat to Home Rule that the District has ever faced, and officials are fighting to stop it.
“By declaring a hostile takeover of MPD, the Administration is abusing its limited, temporary authority under the Home Rule Act, infringing on the District’s right to self-governance and putting the safety of DC residents and visitors at risk. The Administration’s unlawful actions are an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call DC home,” Schwalb said in the press release.
Bondi said in a directive issued late Thursday that DEA boss Terry Cole will assume “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.” The Metropolitan Police Department “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole” before issuing any orders, Bondi said.
Bondi’s order also rescinded several of the D.C. police department’s standing orders, including one issued by Smith Thursday allowing D.C. officers to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Bondi claimed Smith’s order did not go far enough. The other rescinded orders include the D.C. police code of conduct for officers and another governing arrest warrants.
It was not immediately clear where the move left Smith, the city’s current police chief, who works for the mayor.
Schwalb responded to Bondi’s order late Thursday in a letter to Smith, saying Bondi’s directive was “unlawful” and arguing that it could not be followed by the city’s police force.
“Therefore, members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not the orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor,” Schwalb wrote in a memo to Smith, setting up a potential legal clash between the heavily Democratic district and the Republican administration.
D.C. police are now allowed to notify federal immigration enforcement agencies of people who are not in custody, including during traffic stops, the chief of police said. Also on the Rundown: Washingtonians share the challenges of homelessness.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote on social media that “there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.”
Trump, Bondi and Cole are named as defendants in the lawsuit, along with the U.S. Department of Justice, the DEA, the U.S. Marshals Service and its director.
Bowser is not named in the suit. News4 has asked her office for comment.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
Earlier this week, when asked about challenging the federalization of D.C. police, Bowser seemed dismissive of pursuing the legal option.
“What I would point you to is the Home Rule Charter that gives the president the ability to determine the conditions of an emergency,” Bowser said at a Monday news conference. “We could contest that, but the (president’s) authority is pretty broad.” It is not immediately clear if her feelings have changed.
Announcing the federal takeover on Monday, President Donald Trump relied on Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act. In Trump’s Executive Order, he writes, “Effective immediately, the Mayor of the District of Columbia shall provide the services of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes for the maximum period permitted under section 740 of the Home Rule Act.”
While the order and the Home Rule Act can force the District to “provide the services” of D.C.’s police department, Schwalb argues in his letter to Smith, the Home Rule Act “does not authorize the President, or his delegee, to remove or replace the Chief of Police; to alter the chain of command within MPD; to demand services directly from you, MPD, or anyone other than the Mayor; to rescind or suspend MPD orders or directives; or to set the general enforcement priorities of MPD or otherwise determine how the District pursues purely local law enforcement.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
