A US appeals court on Thursday delivered a win for President Donald Trump by allowing the National Guard to remain in Washington, halting a lower court ruling that would have required the deployment to end soon. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted an injunction that would have forced the Guard to withdraw by December 11.

The ruling allows Trump to maintain the National Guard operation he launched earlier this summer, CNN reported.

Criticism of the deployment intensified after two Guard members were shot near the White House on November 26, just before Thanksgiving.

The court’s decision came in response to a legal challenge filed by District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb, a Democrat. Trump first deployed National Guard troops to the capital on August 11 in response to rising violent crime in Washington.