'We Are Fighting to Stop It': DC Attorney General Sues to Block Trump Takeover of City Police

Washington, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb on Friday filed a lawsuit to block United States Attorney General Pam Bondi from taking over the US capital city's police department.

The lawsuit accused the Trump administration of violating the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, a 1973 law that delegated certain powers over the city once held by the federal government to local government officials.

Schwalb argued in the lawsuit that the Home Rule Act gives the president of the United States a very limited set of powers over the governance of the city's police force, as it states that the president may commandeer the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) if he "determines that special conditions of an emergency nature exist" that require the MPD to help fulfill "federal purposes."

Schwalb further noted that the timeframe for this authority is extremely limited. In all, the president can take command of MPD for just 48 hours unless he sends proper notice to the US Congress, after which he will have command over it for a maximum of 30 days.

"For the president to obtain MPD's services for longer than 30 days—even in the face of an ongoing emergency—Congress must pass a joint resolution permitting the extension," Schwalb argued.

The DC attorney general then poked holes in Trump's claims that a federal takeover of MPD was necessary due to a crime emergency.

"The president did not identify any new or unusual exigency that justified the invocation of [emergency powers]," Schwalb alleged. "Instead, he claimed that violent crime in the district is 'increasing,' when, in fact, it has fallen 26% since 2024. The president also did not limit the scope of his order to specific 'federal purposes,' instead directing the mayor to provide any services the attorney general deemed necessary to 'maintain law and order in the Nation's seat of Government.'"

Schwalb also claimed that the Trump administration flatly broke the law when it appointed Terrance Cole, the current administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), to serve as MPD's "interim commissioner." He said that this action would greatly harm MPD's ability to enforce the law and maintain public safety.

"Imposing a new command structure 'effective immediately' will wreak operational havoc within MPD," he wrote. "The new command structure will create confusion for MPD personnel, who are required under district law to respect and obey the chief of police as the head and chief of the police force."

He emphasized that "this will also inevitably lead to delays and confusion as MPD personnel... are forced to run their directives by an 'Emergency Commissioner' who is unfamiliar with MPD procedures and the local communities MPD serves," before warning that "there is no greater risk to public safety in a large, professional police force like MPD than to not know who is in command."

Schwalb concluded his complaint by asking the court to vacate Bondi's order of the federal takeover of MPD, and also to permanently block DEA Administrator Cole from assuming "any position of command" within the department.

In a statement separate from the lawsuit itself, Schwalb charged that "the administration's unlawful actions are an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call DC home" and "this is the gravest threat to home rule that the district has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it."

"By declaring a hostile takeover of MPD," said Schwalb, "the administration is abusing its limited, temporary authority under the Home Rule Act, infringing on the district's right to self-governance and putting the safety of DC residents and visitors at risk."

Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert praised Schwalb's lawsuit and said it was a necessary step "for standing up to this administration's wild and unprecedented abuse of power."

"Declaring a fake emergency and placing our capital city under what looks like a military occupation has furthered the dystopian reality of this moment," Gilbert emphasized. "Donald Trump is an authoritarian president who is intent on dismantling the core safeguards of power-sharing in our democracy, and his actions must be resisted by every American of conscience."

Norm Eisen, executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, said that his organization "stands shoulder‑to‑shoulder" with the DC attorney general in opposing Trump's takeover.

"Appointing the DEA head as 'emergency police commissioner' with full command over MPD is brazen overreach, unprecedented, and directly counter to the principles of democratic accountability and local autonomy enshrined in law," Eisen added.