On November 10, 2025, the Knight Institute joined the ACLU, the ACLU of Illinois, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and the Rutherford Institute in filing an amicus brief in Trump v. Illinois, a Supreme Court case challenging President Trump’s domestic deployment of the military in response to protests taking place in Chicago. The district court ruled that the deployment of the military was likely unlawful and issued a temporary restraining order. The Seventh Circuit upheld the portion of the district court order barring the government from deploying the National Guard in Illinois. The Trump administration now seeks a stay of the temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court.

The amicus brief urges the Court to leave the district court’s ruling in place, arguing 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: Briefing ongoing. 

Case Information: Trump v. Illinois, No. 25A442 (S. Ct.).