US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act “if it was necessary,” especially if courts or state and local officials obstruct his efforts to deploy the National Guard.“I’d do it if it was necessary. So far it hasn’t been necessary. But we have an Insurrection Act for a reason,” Trump said, addressing reporters in the Oval Office when asked under what circumstances he might invoke the rarely used 19th-century law.“If I had to enact it, I’d do that. If people were being killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that. I mean, I want to make sure that people aren’t killed. We have to make sure that our cities are safe,” he said.
What is the Insurrection Act?
The Insurrection Act of 1807 grants the president authority to deploy the US military for civilian law enforcement under specific conditions and was last invoked during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, as cited by NBC News.An early version of the Insurrection Act was initially enacted by Congress in 1792 to “provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.” The law has undergone several amendments over the ensuing centuries.Before invoking the Act, the president is required to first call on the “insurgents” to disperse, according to a 2006 Congressional Research Service report. If order is not restored, the president may then issue an executive order to deploy troops.The law was designed for situations in which local and state authorities are unable or unwilling to maintain order, with the military serving as a last-resort backstop, said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas School of Law, as cited by the New York Times.In general, the law prohibits using the military as a domestic police force. However, the Insurrection Act allows the president to deploy the military to suppress an insurrection if a state government requests assistance. The president also has some discretion in determining whether the unrest is interfering with the enforcement of US laws.The Act was last invoked in 1992 during the Los Angeles riots, which erupted after four white police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King, a Black motorist.Trump’s comments on the Act come amid his plans to federalize troops to tackle crime in cities led by Democratic officials.The state of Illinois and the City of Chicago filed a lawsuit on Monday morning seeking to block the Trump administration from deploying military troops to the city.A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday also blocked the administration from sending federalized National Guard members from California or other states to Portland’s streets.
