A fight over city officers in the nation”s capital has escalated to a lawsuit filed by Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb against President Donald Trump, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, and other federal officials.

The lawsuit is a challenge to the White House that appears to be seeking full metropolitan police control and dismantling a chain of command that has been in place for over 50 years.

In an attempt to assert control by the White House, Bondi appointed an “emergency police commissioner” and named Terrance C. Cole, who currently serves as the Administrator for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, to the role. Cole is also named in the lawsuit.

In response to the Trump Administration’s actions, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has said the office is still evaluating how it can comply with the new Bondi order, while the police department has already eased some of its restrictions when cooperating with federal officials, though it has said it would abide by the district’s sanctuary laws.

This isn’t the first time a lawsuit has been filed to stop Trump’s agenda, and it won’t be the last. But the question is: what’s it all for? Is it a sincere belief from the president in what he’s saying? Is it a precaution? Or is it a distraction from other ways the president has appeared in the media recently, namely the Epstein files?

There has been a lot of quick back-and-forth regarding the administration flexing its executive authority, only to be reminded of what the law does and does not allow.