Who is the Trump-appointed judge blocking deployment of National Guard to Portland?

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U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, who President Donald Trump nominated during his first term, is blocking the commander in chief from deploying National Guard troops in Oregon.

The Senate confirmed her via voice vote in 2019.

Immergut was involved in a probe pertaining to the salacious scandal that indelibly marked President Bill Clinton's White House tenure.

"I was hired by Ken Starr almost five months after Attorney General Reno sought to expand the OIC's authority to investigate whether Monica Lewinsky or others suborned perjury, obstructed justice, or intimidated witnesses in connection with the civil sexual harassment case in Jones v. Clinton," Immergut wrote in response to a question from then-Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., in 2018. 

"I was hired to work as a line prosecutor to determine whether there were facts to support or refute those allegations," she noted.

She said that she questioned Lewinsky.

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"When Ms. Lewinsky agreed to cooperate with the Office of Independent Counsel, I was asked to be one of the team of prosecutors debriefing her. As I was involved in the debriefings, I was asked to participate in questioning Ms. Lewinsky before the grand jury and take her deposition," she noted in response to another question.

Responding to questions from Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Immergut expressed the view that it is not appropriate for lower courts to buck Supreme Court precedent.

Asked whether Roe v. Wade was "settled law," she replied, "Yes" - the nation's high court overturned the controversial abortion ruling in 2022. 

Asked whether the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry is "settled law," she again replied in the affirmative. 

Sen. Feinstein passed away in 2023.

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Trump issued a Truth Social post last month in which he declared that he was "directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists." 

A document featuring Hegseth's signature noted that "200 members of the Oregon National Guard will be called into Federal service effective immediately for a period of 60 days."

But this month, Immergut temporarily blocked the move amid a legal challenge lodged by the State of Oregon and the City of Portland.

"The President's determination was simply untethered to the facts," the judge's opinion and order asserted, declaring that "this Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' Motion for Temporary Restraining Order … and temporarily enjoins Defendants' September 28, 2025, Memorandum ordering the federalization and deployment of Oregon National Guard service members to Portland."

Then she issued a second temporary restraining order that more broadly blocked the administration from deploying any federalized National Guard in the state. 

"Defendants are temporarily enjoined from deploying federalized members of the National Guard in Oregon," the document declared. 

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White House deputy chief of staff for policy and Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller declared in a post on X that "A district court judge has no conceivable authority, whatsoever, to restrict the President and Commander-in-Chief from dispatching members of the US military to defend federal lives and property."