The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to let it deploy National Guard troops to the Chicago area, escalating a showdown between the administration and Democratic-led cities.

The Justice Department filed an emergency application on Friday, after a federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that blocked the deployment of National Guard troops to the state of Illinois.

What do we know about the Trump administration's plea to the Supreme Court?

Solicitor General D. John Sauer, representing the government, told the justices that the court order blocking the deployment of the National Guard "improperly impinges on the president's authority and needlessly endangers federal personnel and property."

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker posted to X after the Trump administration's request to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court that he would continue to defend the sovereignty of his state.

"Militarizing our communities against their will is not only un-American but also leads us down a dangerous path for our democracy," he added.

Supreme Court justices to weigh in on Trump's effort to deploy National Guard

President Donald Trump has pushed to send troops to Chicago, adding to a number of Democratic-led cities where the US president has attempted to deploy troops to clamp down on what he has called "rampant" crime.

But Democrats have accused Trump of overstepping his authority to intimidate his political rivals.

Pritzker previously said: "This is not about fighting crime. This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city in a blue state to try to intimidate his political rivals."

The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority and Trump has often turned to the high court when lower courts have ruled against his administration's orders.

Edited by: Rana Taha