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SC Supreme Court hears challenge to McMaster National Guard deployments to D.C.

Clemson, South CarolinaPublished 16 Sep 2026

Brooks Center for the Performing Arts at Clemson University, where the South Carolina Supreme Court sat Sept. 15.
Brooks Center for the Performing Arts at Clemson University, where the South Carolina Supreme Court sat Sept. 15.

Chris Pruitt / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Justices sitting at Clemson University heard arguments Sept. 15 on whether Gov. Henry McMaster had authority under state law to send South Carolina National Guard troops to Washington.

The South Carolina Supreme Court heard oral arguments Sept. 15, 2026, at Clemson University on a lawsuit by the South Carolina Public Interest Foundation and Navy veteran James Weninger challenging Gov. Henry McMaster’s 2025 deployments of state National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. ACLU attorney Allen Chaney argued the governor exceeded state law; McMaster lawyer Grayson Lambert said the governor’s commander-in-chief authority is broad and not for courts to second-guess. The justices did not rule from the bench.

Shared facts

The South Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments Sept. 15 at Clemson University.

The arguments were at Clemson University's Brooks Center for the Performing Arts.

The court held a two-day session at Clemson on Sept. 15-16.

The National Guard case was argued at 10 a.m.

Chief Justice John Kittredge participated and questioned lawyers.

Lawyers argued for about an hour.

The justices made no immediate decision and gave no timeline.

The South Carolina Public Interest Foundation and Navy veteran James Weninger sued.

The suit names Gov. Henry McMaster and Adjutant General Robin Stilwell.

The case was brought in the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction and was not tried first in a lower court.

ACLU of South Carolina attorney Allen Chaney argued for the plaintiffs.

Grayson Lambert argued for McMaster.

McMaster deployed South Carolina National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., at President Trump's request.

McMaster sent about 200 troops in August 2025.

McMaster sent more than 300 troops in a later 2025 deployment.

About 30 South Carolina troops remain in Washington.

Chaney said guardsmen spent the year picking up trash, spreading mulch, and patrolling subway platforms rather than stopping an invasion or riot.

State law lists war, insurrection, invasion, riot, or public disaster among the circumstances for calling out the Guard.

Plaintiffs say none of those statutory conditions existed in Washington.

Lambert said the governor is commander-in-chief and has broad authority to call out the militia.

Lambert told justices the governor's decision to call out the militia is unreviewable by courts.

Kittredge said deploying the Guard is a matter of the governor's discretion.

Chaney said the question is whether the statute authorized the deployment, not whether it was a good idea.

Lambert cited a long history of out-of-state Guard or militia deployments under the governor's command.

Lambert said the Guard deployed to Atlanta for 1996 Olympic security.

Plaintiffs say Washington officials did not request South Carolina troops.

Lambert argued the plaintiffs lack standing and the court should hear only cases from people directly affected.

Clemson President Benjamin Ayers addressed the session.

The court also heard a case involving Thomas Ravenel and Kathryn Dennis over their family-court file.

The hearing was open to the public.

McMaster has said the deployments were to support public safety and assist law enforcement in the capital.

Disputed facts

Sources disagree on whether four or five justices heard the case.

Sources disagree on whether violent crime in Washington warranted calling out the Guard.

ABC News 4

SC Supreme Court to hear challenge to McMaster's National Guard deployments to D.C.

ABC News 4 staff

Published 14 Sep 2026 accessed 16 Sep 2026

Facts

No unique facts.

Opinion

The organization called the governor's deployment orders a shameful political stunt.

FITSNews

LIVE: S.C. Supreme Court at Clemson

Will Folks

Published 15 Sep 2026 accessed 16 Sep 2026

Facts

SCPIF is also suing Clemson over whether lifetime board of trustee appointments violate the state constitution.

Ravenel contends the files should be unsealed, arguing Dennis has misrepresented the case on social media.

Dennis has countered that unsealing the files would not be in the best interests of the couple's two minor children.

Opinion

FITSNews says the Ravenel-Dennis case has significant implications for South Carolina's open records law.

The Greenville News

South Carolina Supreme Court hears National Guard case at Clemson

Bella Carpentier

Published 15 Sep 2026 accessed 16 Sep 2026

Facts

It is the first time the state's highest court has held proceedings at Clemson University.

Governors from Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee also deployed their national guards to the capital during 2025.

On Sept. 16 the court was to hear a Horry County right-to-testify case and an Anderson County product-liability case.

Opinion

No opinion marked.

The Island Packet

Did Gov. McMaster act lawfully in sending National Guard to DC? SC's High court to decide

John Monk

Published 15 Sep 2026 accessed 16 Sep 2026

Facts

The question was whether Henry McMaster exceeded his authority in sending 500 S.C. National Guard troops.

Lambert said more than 9,500 troops were sent out of state for training last fiscal year.

Plaintiff James Weninger is a Berkeley County Navy veteran who served 16 years in military law enforcement.

Lambert said the Guard deployed to North Carolina in 1996 for hurricane relief.

The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the governor exceeded his authority and an injunction against further deployments in response to Trump's order.

The Brooks Center seats nearly 1,000 people and looked mostly full on the video.

Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Oconee and a 1978 Clemson graduate, also spoke.

Opinion

The Island Packet said a ruling could go either way.

The Post and Courier

ACLU argues in SC Supreme Court: Gov. Henry McMaster can't deploy troops to Washington, DC

Nick Reynolds

Published 15 Sep 2026 accessed 16 Sep 2026

Facts

The mission has been extended through the duration of Trump's second term.

The Post and Courier said the president lacks authority to call up the National Guard, which rests largely with Congress and the states.

Trump has invoked precedents he says give him power to deploy troops to Democratic-controlled cities over crime.

In 2012, South Carolina National Guard troops assisted with border security in Texas.

Chaney noted a line in Section 20 of the S.C. Constitution.

Attorney General Alan Wilson, an active-duty National Guardsman, was in Virginia on a training mission during the Sept. 15 arguments, his campaign said.

Opinion

The ACLU argued the deployment was a thinly veiled effort to marshal the Guard in support of the president's agenda.

Chaney said unchecked military authority in one person is not something the framers would have allowed.

Lambert said the court should not create a new limitation on the governor's power not found in the Constitution or statutes.

SC Daily Gazette

SC Supreme Court to decide if governor overstepped sending National Guard to DC

Skylar Laird

Published 15 Sep 2026 accessed 16 Sep 2026

Facts

The next rotation of 300 soldiers, lasting six months, is scheduled to leave the first week of December, the governor's office said.

Attorneys said neither law says anything about sending troops to other states or jurisdictions.

A similar West Virginia legal challenge was dismissed in November 2025.

D.C.'s attorney general is suing to remove National Guard troops from the city.

Chaney said the governor typically deploys the National Guard at the request of another state's governor.

Justice George James said that because the state has done that before doesn't make it correct.

Lambert said more recent deployments used the same federal law used to send troops to D.C.

Lambert pointed to a separate law barring the State Guard from deploying across state lines.

Lambert said the state sent the Guard to D.C. for security during protests in 2020.

Opinion

Chaney said if justices side with the governor, nothing will stop McMaster or a future governor from sending troops to any other city.

Chaney said if the governor is given that power, there is no check of consent.

Chaney said abuse of the governor's commander-in-chief authority is a diffuse constitutional harm borne by all citizens.