A West Virginia judge on Nov. 10 allowed the state’s governor to continue deploying members of the state’s National Guard to patrol the streets of the nation’s capital.

In Charleston, West Virginia, Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Richard Lindsay issued a ruling from the bench orally dismissing West Virginia Citizen Action Group’s lawsuit against Gov. Patrick Morrisey.

“The question before this court is whether or not state law allows West Virginia to do this,” Lindsay said. “The court has found that.”

The judge then added, “This court believes that the federal law allows for the request made by the president to the governor.”

The Republican governor had issued a deployment order in August.

“West Virginia is proud to stand with President [Donald] Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation’s capital,” he said at the time.

“The men and women of our National Guard represent the best of our state, and this mission reflects our shared commitment to a strong and secure America.”

West Virginia Citizen Action Group had argued that the governor exceeded his authority by sending 300 to 400 members of the West Virginia National Guard to Washington.

West Virginia law allows the governor to send National Guard troops out of state only for specific reasons, such as to respond to a natural disaster or at the request of another state, according to the group.

In the lawsuit filed in August, the West Virginia Citizen Action Group said the troops were deployed “to serve as political props in a manufactured crisis.”

Morrisey “exceeded his constitutional and statutory authority by ordering West Virginia service members to abandon their families, jobs, and communities to police the streets of our nation’s capital where violent crime has reached its lowest level in 30 years,” the lawsuit said.

In addition to West Virginia, National Guard members from Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia have been deployed to Washington.

Trump has said the troops are needed to deal with crime and violence and support federal immigration law enforcement efforts.

On Aug. 11, Trump signed a presidential memorandum in which he said the local District of Columbia government “has lost control of public order and safety in the city.”

“It is a point of national disgrace that Washington, D.C., has a violent crime rate that is higher than some of the most dangerous places in the world,” the document states.

Soon after the memorandum, more than 2,300 National Guard troops from across the country were patrolling under the command of the secretary of the U.S. Army. The president also deployed federal agents to the city.

Jace Goins, West Virginia’s chief deputy attorney general, hailed the new court ruling.

“The National Guard are going nowhere. They’re staying in D.C., ” he said.

“The judge made the determination that the governor made a lawful decision deploying the National Guard to D.C. by a lawful request of the president.”

Aubrey Sparks, an attorney with the West Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, expressed disappointment.

“I think what the state was permitted to do here is to skirt past West Virginia law simply because Trump asked them to. And that’s not how the law works,” the attorney said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This article by Matthew Vadum appeared Nov. 11, 2025, in The Epoch Times.

Photo: West Virginia Gov. General Patrick Morrisey, a Republican