On this September 11, Trump's troops remain in Washington, D.C.

It's been more than a month now since President Donald Trump unleashed soldiers on the nation's capital. A lawsuit challenging their presence is moving forward, slowly.

September 11, 2025, on 14th Street, NW, in Washington, D.C.

On September 11, 2001, then-president George W. Bush told the nation, “America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.”

The speech preceded decades of American war — the Global War on Terror, as Bush called it, or the Reign of Terror, as Spencer Ackerman wrote.

Twenty-four years later, armed troops — American troops — were patrolling an American city.

On August 11, President Donald Trump issued his “crime emergency” executive order against Washington, D.C. Activated members of the D.C. National Guard started appearing on our streets and in our neighborhoods. Soon thereafter, members of the National Guard from other states — sent by Trump sycophant governors — joined them.

Since then, they’ve been a disturbing presence on the streets of our city. While it’s still not clear that most of them are doing anything other than walking around (or picking up trash), their presence, as I wrote at the start of this month, has a purpose: It is one of the Trump administration’s efforts to make Trump’s fascism happen.

It was a different type of September 11 this year.

Days after I wrote about the troops’ Labor Day presence in the city, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued the Trump administration on September 4 to end the National Guard’s presence here. On September 9, D.C.’s lawyers filed for a preliminary injunction.

“The Constitution and our most foundational statutes prohibit this military takeover of the District and its law enforcement functions,” they argued. “Every day that this lawless incursion continues, the District suffers harm to its sovereign authority to conduct local law enforcement as it chooses. Moreover, the use of heavily armed National Guard troops, untrained in basic law enforcement techniques, to patrol residential neighborhoods and combat crimes threatens to undermine the work of District police and creates a dangerous situation rife with the possibility of tragic encounters.“

D.C. is also seeking expedited discovery — information from the Trump administration turned over as part of the lawsuit. The request seeks information like this:

The next day, September 10, was the 30th day of Trump’s “emergency” — the final day of his Home Rule Act authority related to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Troops in Dupont Circle on September 11, 2025.

On September 11 — a day that had been about something else for the past 24 years — the troops remained.

Armed.

In an American city.

On the order and at the behest of Donald Trump.

Of course, D.C. is not alone. Troops have remained in the Los Angeles area, under different authorities, since June — as detailed in this recent request, currently on hold, in the ongoing litigation there. And, though he has not yet acted elsewhere, Trump continues to threaten other cities with similar actions. And, in the wake of the killing of far-right activist Charlie Kirk on September 10, Trump made vague but alarming threats about how he would proceed against those on the left who he was blaming for the shooting death before a suspect had even been identified.

In the challenge to the troops’ continued presence in D.C., meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb set a hearing for 1:00 p.m. September 18 on the request for expedited discovery.

In other words, the lawsuit is not proceeding quickly — though more quickly than the Justice Department wanted — and an injunction, even were it to come, will take time and be subject to appeals.

In the meantime, we remain — and will remain — D.C.

We will continue to press forward and push back — in defense of our freedoms.