A federal judge has, for the second time in two days, blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Oregon, ruling that the administration appeared to defy her Saturday order that Trump lacked a legal basis for sending the military into Portland.

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut said Sunday that the administration’s effort to circumvent her original order — in part by deploying Guard troops from California and Texas — was “in direct contravention” of her earlier decision, which prohibited Trump from federalizing 200 members of Oregon’s National Guard.

Though Trump had claimed the military was needed to combat daily violence against federal immigration officials, Immergut, a Trump appointee, concluded that Trump’s assessment was “untethered to facts” and failed to satisfy the legal basis to federalize the state’s National Guard troops.

Within hours of her ruling, however, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered hundreds of members of California’s National Guard to deploy to Portland and reached an agreement with Texas to send hundreds of that state’s National Guard troops to Chicago, Portland and other areas of the country.

Almost 200 California Guard troops arrived or were expected in Portland on Sunday, according to Alan Gronewold, the commander of Oregon’s National Guard. California Guard officials were told 300 of their personnel were being sent to Portland, although a Justice Department attorney said only 200 of those troops were dispatched to Oregon and the remainder would stay in California.

A federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending any National Guard troops to Portland. The ruling comes after the Trump administration moved to send the California National Guard to Portland after the judge earlier denied sending Oregon National Guard troops.

“What was unlawful with the Oregon National Guard is unlawful with the California National Guard,” Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a news conference before the ruling. “The judge’s order was not some minor procedural point for the president to work around like my 14-year-old does when he doesn’t like my answers.”

The state amended its original complaint against calling up the Oregon National Guard in federal district court and filed for a second temporary restraining order to pause the president’s actions.

In response to the amended complaint, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement, “The facts haven’t changed: President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement.”

US District Judge Karin Immergut granted a temporary restraining order Saturday blocking President Donald Trump from sending the Oregon National Guard to Portland, the state’s largest city, ruling that city and state officials “are likely to succeed on their claim that the President exceeded his constitutional authority and violated the Tenth Amendment” in ordering the deployment.

Donald Trump hasn’t yet reached the point at which he’s deliberately and explicitly defied federal court orders, but make no mistake: The president and his team have gone to dramatic lengths to circumvent judicial rulings they didn’t like.

Arguably, the most dangerous of such efforts, in which the Republican administration is dancing precariously along a profoundly radical line, is currently underway. The New York Times reported:

A federal judge on Sunday night blocked the Trump administration from deploying hundreds of out-of-state National Guard troops to Oregon, even as President Trump turned to the Texas guard in a widening hunt for military forces to send to Democratic cities.

......Local and state officials filed suit and succeeded: On Saturday, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut — a Trump appointee — blocked the president from deploying 200 National Guard troops to Portland.

“This country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs,” Immergut wrote.

“This historical tradition boils down to a simple proposition: this is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law. Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation,” she added.

The White House did not take the news well. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller characterized the restraining order as “legal insurrection,” adding that he believed Guard deployments were “an absolute necessity” in order to, among other things, protect “the Republic itself.”...

The aforementioned Times report added, “Judge Immergut, an appointee of President Trump, called an emergency hearing Sunday, then broadened her restraining order to cover ‘the relocation, federalization or deployment of members of the National Guard of any state or the District of Columbia in the state of Oregon,’ telling Justice Department lawyers that the president was ‘in direct contravention’ of her order.”

The Trump-appointed judge went on to note that the White House’s assessment about violent civil unrest in Portland was “untethered to facts.”

All of which is to say, the rule of law is holding on — for now. Watch this space.