New Delhi, Dec. 17 -- An appeals court on Wednesday (December 17) cleared the way for President Donald Trump to keep National Guard troops deployed in Washington, D.C., delivering a significant legal victory to the administration amid mounting scrutiny over the prolonged presence of troops in the capital.

In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit stayed a lower court decision that had found the deployment was likely unlawful and ordered the removal of thousands of Guard members from city streets.

The appeals court determined that the Trump administration was likely to succeed in arguing that the president's August 11 deployment of the DC National Guard fell within his authority as commander...