#insurrection-act

#insurrection-act

There are few laws President Trump name-checks more frequently than the Insurrection Act. A 200-year-old constellation of statutes, the act grants emergency powers to thrust active-duty soldiers into civilian police duty, something otherwise barred by federal law. Trump and his team have threatened to invoke it almost daily for weeks - most recently on Monday, after a reporter pressed the president about his escalating efforts to dispatch federalized troops to Democrat-led cities.

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the extremely consequential new Supreme Court term beginning this week, the facts on the ground and the legal questions at play behind Trump's escalating deployments of troops to US cities, and the likely legal defeat of state bans on conversion therapy. Here are some notes and references from this week's show: Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern for Amicus (Slate Podcast): This Will Be Trump's Best Term at the Supreme Court Yet (audio episode, 1:03:30)

A majority of voters, 58 percent, said presidents should only send military forces to cities that face external threats. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to U.S. President Donald Trump during a roundtable discussion in the State Dining Room of the White House on October 8, 2025.Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images Two sets of recent polling data demonstrate that Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump's actions in office so far - particularly his mobilization of the National Guard in U.S. cities.

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."

U.S. President Donald Trump is considering invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to Democratic-run cities if judges bar him from activating the National Guard, as he intends to do to provide security on the streets of Chicago and Portland, he said Monday, as tensions escalate over the deployment orders. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump compared the situation in Portland, the largest city in the state of Oregon, to an insurrection. Portland is on fire. Portland's been on fire for years, he asserted.

Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy more troops into Democrat-led cities. We have an insurrection act for a reason. If I had to enact it I would do that, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, adding, if people were being killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure I would do that.

As the commanding officer leading the Marine detachment explained, 'They do not do any arrest, they are strictly there to detain, to wait for law enforcement to come and handle those demonstrators.'