On October 23, 2025, the Knight Institute joined the ACLU and its Oregon, California, Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Washington affiliates, and the Rutherford Institute in filing an amicus brief in Oregon v. Trump, a Ninth Circuit case challenging President Trump’s domestic deployment of the military in response to protests taking place in Portland. The district court ruled that the deployment of the military was unlawful and issued a permanent injunction barring the government from deploying the National Guard in Oregon. A Ninth Circuit panel stayed that order while it considered the government’s appeal.

The amicus brief urged the Ninth Circuit to rehear the case en banc and reconsider the high level of deference it afforded the President in staying the permanent injunction. The brief argued that U.S. history, tradition, and law strictly limit the use of the military to police the American people; that military deployment chills the exercise of speech and association protected by the First Amendment; and that the government violated the First Amendment by deploying the military to subdue a protest that was overwhelmingly lawful.

Status: The Ninth Circuit granted rehearing en banc but ultimately dismissed the appeal after the government moved to voluntarily dismiss, following the Supreme Court's denial of the government’s application for a stay in Trump v. Illinois.

Case Information: Oregon v. Trump, No. 25-6268 (9th Cir.).