By Dietrich Knauth
(Reuters) -An Oregon federal judge on Thursday recused himself from a court battle over President Donald Trump's decision to send National Guard troops to police Portland, after the Trump administration raised concerns about comments made by the judge's wife, a congresswoman, criticizing the troop deployment.
U.S. District Judge Michael Simon, who is married to U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici, said reassigning the case to a different judge would ensure it remains focused on "critically
important constitutional and statutory issues" rather than being derailed by questions about potential bias.
Bonamici, a Democrat whose district includes most of Portland, said at a press conference with Democratic Oregon Governor Tina Kotek that the decision to send troops was a "gross abuse of power" and "no military is welcome or needed here."
Trump's Department of Justice said in a Thursday court filing asking the judge to step aside that those comments "may create the appearance of partiality."
CASE GOES TO TRUMP APPOINTED JUDGE
Bonamici declined to comment on her husband's recusal.
Simon was appointed to the bench by Democratic President Barack Obama. The case has been reassigned to U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, who was appointed by Trump during his first term in office.
The lawsuit was filed by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, a Democrat, on September 28, a day after Trump said he would send troops to Portland to protect federal immigration facilities from "domestic terrorists."
Oregon has asked the court to declare the deployment illegal and block it from going forward, saying Trump was exaggerating the threat of protests against his immigration policies to justify illegally seizing control of state National Guard units.
The case is scheduled for a Friday court hearing on Oregon's request for a temporary restraining order that would block Trump's use of Oregon's National Guard.
Trump's decisions to send military forces to cities led by Democrats, including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., also sparked lawsuits from the state of California and Washington, D.C.
A California federal judge has ruled that Trump illegally deployed troops to Los Angeles and that troops in the city violated a law prohibiting the military from engaging in law enforcement. Both rulings have been stayed by an appeals court.
The D.C. court has not yet made a ruling on the legality of the troop deployment in the nation's capital.
(Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)
