When a lawyer from the Illinois attorney general’s office appeared in front of Judge April M. Perry on Monday, he pressed her to swiftly block the deployment of National Guard troops to the Chicago area. The state’s sovereignty was under threat, said the lawyer, Christopher Wells, with soldiers from Texas expected in Illinois that night.
Judge Perry, a Biden appointee who has been a federal judge for less than a year, declined to take any immediate action. She set another hearing for Thursday, saying that both she and lawyers for the Trump administration needed time to review the lengthy lawsuit, which was filed by the state and the city of Chicago just hours before the hearing on Monday.
“They are entitled to a response,” Judge Perry said of lawyers for the federal government, even as she said she was “very troubled by the lack of answers” to her questions about where Guard troops would be operating and when they would start.
In making no immediate ruling, Judge Perry allowed the Trump administration to move ahead with sending soldiers from the Illinois and Texas National Guards into the Chicago area, where protesters have clashed in recent weeks with immigration enforcement agents. Federal officials have described the deployment as necessary to protect federal agents and property, while state and local leaders have warned that it is a dangerous and unconstitutional power grab.
The lawsuit has placed an intense spotlight on Judge Perry, who was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in November, in the waning days of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidency.
Judge Perry, a former corporate lawyer and federal prosecutor, had previously been nominated to be the top federal prosecutor in Chicago by Mr. Biden. That nomination was derailed when JD Vance, then a senator from Ohio and now the vice president, declined to allow her nomination and others to receive unanimous approval.
Mr. Vance said on the Senate floor at the time that his objection was “not specific to the qualifications or the particular individuals that have been nominated,” but rather based on his concern that the Justice Department had been politicized by the Biden administration. Ms. Perry was later nominated by Mr. Biden and confirmed by the Senate for the judgeship.
In court on Monday, Judge Perry peppered lawyers for the Trump administration with questions about the planned deployment. She wanted to know where in Illinois the troops could be posted and when they would arrive on the streets. At multiple points she suggested, but did not demand, that the administration hold off on sending soldiers into the streets until she could more fully weigh the lawsuit.
“If I were the government, I might strongly consider taking a pause on this until Thursday,” said Judge Perry, who could rule on state and local officials’ request to temporarily block the deployment during the Thursday hearing or at any point afterward.
Another federal judge in Oregon has temporarily blocked the president’s attempts to send National Guard troops into Portland. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling.
Mitch Smith is a Chicago-based national correspondent for The Times, covering the Midwest and Great Plains.
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