Gov. McMaster sued for unlawful SC National Guard deployment to D.C.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) — A lawsuit was filed against Gov. Henry McMaster’s authority to deploy the South Carolina National Guard to Washington, D.C.

The complaint stems from McMaster’s first authorized deployment of hundreds of National Guard in August 2025 and hundreds more in November 2025.

A complaint alleges that McMaster’s deployment violates South Carolina law, which only allows the Guard to be called up under conditions set by the South Carolina General Assembly. They also said the conditions for development set by the state legislature were not present to justify the order.

The plaintiff argues that the governor should not ignore or violate the law in any way.

“Gov. McMaster cannot use South Carolina National Guard servicemembers as pawns in a harmful political gambit brought about by the President’s desire to militarize the nation’s cities,” Democracy Forward said. “The governor should not be permitted to ignore and violate the law.”

Governor spokesman Brandon Charochak released the following statement in response to the lawsuit:

“The People of South Carolina have empowered their Governors with unambiguous authority to utilize and deploy the state’s National Guard to save and protect American lives, defend the homeland, and assist in enforcing the rule of law. To suggest otherwise demonstrates either a remarkable ignorance of constitutional and statutory law, or a terminal case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

The plaintiffs ask the Supreme Court to deem McMaster’s deployments as unlawful and to prevent him from making further deployments.