The state Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday over whether Gov. Henry McMaster had the legal authority to deploy hundreds of state National Guard troops last year to help with President Trump's anti-crime effort in the nation's capital.
The ACLU of South Carolina said it was unlawful and did not meet the legal conditions when McMaster twice last year ordered troops to Washington to assist in the large-scale domestic deployment when local leaders said violent crime was at a low.
McMaster first ordered troops to Washington in August 2025 at the request of the Pentagon's National Guard Bureau. The governor's office said the deployment was funded by the federal government under Title 32.
"Hundreds of South Carolina guardsmen spent the better part of this year in Washington, D.C. not repelling an invasion, putting down a riot or quelling a tumult, but picking up trash, spreading mulch and patrolling subway platforms," said Allen Chaney, legal director at the ACLU of South Carolina, representing the plaintiffs Navy veteran James Weninger and the South Carolina Public Interest Foundation.
McMaster's lawyer Grayson Lambert told the justices the governor had the constitutional and statutory authority to deploy the troops, noting deployments have been ordered for natural disasters and other "security" missions.
Lambert argued the plaintiffs lacked standing.
"The governor is the commander-in-chief of the South Carolina militia, and he possesses broad constitutional and statutory authority to call out the militia," Lambert said.
McMaster has continued to defend the deployment.
He told reporters Tuesday in Newberry that as long as the president asks for troops, South Carolina will do its part "to keep the people of D.C. safe."
