Court Cases

Twice in 2025, at the request of President Donald Trump, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster ordered hundreds of South Carolina National Guard members to deploy to Washington D.C. While the president claimed the purpose of his request was “to address the epidemic of crime in our Nation’s capital,” the facts did not bear that out. Violent crime was at a 30-year low in the District of Columbia. During the second deployment, which was launched in December 2025 and estimated to last 90 days, Navy veteran James Weninger and the South Carolina Public Interest Foundation (SCPIF) filed a lawsuit asking the State Supreme Court to stop the deployment and bring the troops home from this blatant act of political theater. The ACLU of South Carolina and Democracy Forward represent the plaintiffs in this case.