This is Amicus Slate's podcast about the courts and the law and the Supreme Court.

I'm Dahlia Lithway.

You've called the district judge's ruling blocking the deployment of National Guard and Oregon legal insurrection.

Does the administration still plan to abide

by that ruling? Well, the administration filed an appeal this morning with the Ninth Circuit.

I would note the administration won an identical case in the Ninth Circuit just a few months ago

with respect to the federalizing of the California National Guard.

Under Title X of the U.S. Code, the president has plenary authority.

Has...

Steven?

Steven?

Hey, Steven, can you hear him?

If the courts uphold this idea that he also... Stephen? Hey, Stephen, can you hear me?

If the courts uphold this idea that he also has the exclusive authority to decide when an insurrection occurs,

then, you know, facts be damned.

Anything that happens anywhere could be labeled an insurrection and could be the trigger for deploying troops. We don't need to puzzle through weird hypotheticals. It's happening right now

in the Caribbean. This week brought upon us an alarming escalation between Donald Trump, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the good people of Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, Illinois.

The courts thus far seem to be unpersuaded that fiery mayhem rules the streets of American cities that happen to have blue mayors.

Stephen Miller seems to be teasing a claim that the president has, quote, plenary power

to do with the military as he sees fit, and the army, stuck in the middle, is in the unenviable

position of having to make impossible choices. How those in the military make those

impossible choices was muddled mightily by the Supreme Court's ruling in Trump v. United States

...