"Trump said Monday in the Oval Office he hasn't needed to use the Insurrection Act - "so far." But, he added, "we have an Insurrection Act for a reason." He continued, "If people were being killed, and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I'd do that.""
"Threat level: Legal experts have called for the Insurrection Act to be updated to curtail the nearly "limitless discretion to deploy the military domestically" that it gives the president, according to the the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute."
"The fine print: U.S. code reads that "[w]henever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion" against U.S. authority "make it impracticable to enforce the laws," he can federalize the "the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces" as he deems necessary."
The Insurrection Act of 1807 grants the president authority to deploy military forces on American soil in specified circumstances. U.S. code permits the president to federalize state militias and use armed forces when unlawful obstructions, assemblages, or rebellion make enforcement of laws impracticable. One section allows troop deployment at a state's request, while two other sections do not require state consent. The Act serves as a significant exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits federal troops in civilian law enforcement. The law has not been meaningfully updated in roughly 150 years, and states and cities have sued over alleged Posse Comitatus violations related to recent Guard deployments.
Read at Axios
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