On Monday, a West Virginia court is set to review a lawsuit challenging the state’s decision to send National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. This deployment aligns with former President Donald Trump’s strategy to utilize military forces in cities governed by Democrats.

This marks the third hearing in Charleston over the span of three weeks, focusing on West Virginia’s involvement in Trump’s crime reduction initiative. The initiative has sparked a series of lawsuits and complex legal proceedings.

In August, West Virginia joined several other states in dispatching National Guard members to the nation’s capital. Although the state’s National Guard indicated that their mission might continue until November’s end, discussions with the governor’s office could potentially extend their deployment. Meanwhile, formal orders have already prolonged the presence of the district’s National Guard in Washington, D.C., through February.

The West Virginia Citizen Action Group, a civic organization, filed a lawsuit claiming that Republican Governor Patrick Morrisey overstepped his authority by deploying up to 300 Guard members to the capital. They argue that state law restricts the governor from sending the National Guard out of state unless it’s for specific reasons like responding to natural disasters or emergencies at the request of another state.

Governor Morrisey’s office maintains that the deployment was legally sanctioned under federal law.

At an initial hearing last month, the civic group argued that it was harmed by the deployment by being forced to refocus its resources away from its core mission of government accountability and transparency. The state attorney general’s office sought to reject the case, saying the group has not been harmed and lacked standing to challenge Morrisey’s decision.

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Richard Lindsay continued that hearing after asking attorneys for the state to specifically address whether the deployment was lawful.

After hearing one witness testify for the plaintiff group on Nov. 3, Lindsay continued the case again.

While Trump issued an executive order in August declaring a crime emergency in the nation’s capital, the U.S. Justice Department says violent crime there is at a 30-year low.

Within a month, more than 2,300 Guard troops from eight states and the district were patrolling under the Army secretary’s command. Trump also deployed hundreds of federal agents to assist them.

Separately, a federal judge heard arguments Oct. 24 on District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb ’s request for an order that would remove National Guard members from Washington streets. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, did not rule from the bench.