Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb has had enough of criminal arrests and clearing out homeless encampments. He has announced that the city is suing the Trump Administration to stop its takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

President Donald Trump announced an executive order Monday invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act. It gives the federal government the authority to control MPD. Trump also declared a public safety emergency D.C., mobilizing the National Guard to address rampant crime in the nation’s capital.

The final straw for the city was Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Thursday order naming DEA Administrator Terry Cole as emergency police commissioner. Cole will assume “all of the powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police,” according to the order. 

Schwalb will fight in court for MPD’s Chief Pamela Smith’s position.

“It is my opinion that the Bondi Order is unlawful, and that you are not legally obligated to follow it,” Schwalb said in an August 14 letter to Smith.

“Regardless of the Bondi Order, no official other than you may exercise all the powers and duties of the Chief of Police or issue any executive orders, or other written directives that apply to members of MPD,” the letter concluded.

Schwalb’s complaint asks the Washington, D.C. U.S. District Court to prevent Cole from assuming any position of comment within MPD.

“The federal government’s power over DC is not absolute, and it should not be exercised as such,” Schwalb wrote in a series of X posts. “Section 740 of the Home Rule Act permits the President to request MPD’s services. But it can only be done temporarily, for special emergencies, and solely for federal purposes.”

Perhaps Schwalb does not understand that everything that happens in the capital is of national interest.

The city hosts many tourists who ought to feel safe for what may be the trip of a lifetime. The city has a huge population of young adults hoping to build a future with an internship, a dream job at the Capitol Building, or work with a nonprofit. Plenty of people from around the nation are connected to someone who lives there. Diplomats from around the world live and visit D.C. because it is one of the most powerful cities in the world. It should be a shining example of the best America has to offer, not a cesspool of crime and homelessness.