The showdown in Washington is the latest attempt by Trump to test the boundaries of his legal authority to carry out his tough-on-crime agenda, relying on obscure statutes and a supposed state of emergency to speed up the mass deportation of people in the United States illegally.

Washington is seeking an emergency restraining order to block President Donald Trump’s takeover of its police department.

The District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday, in response to what the district called the federal government’s “unlawful assertions of authority.”