President Donald Trump is facing political and legal resistance as he attempts to expand his policy of sending troops into cities controlled by Democrats. With no sign of backing down from his strategy, Trump is now threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, which gives the president the power to use the military for law enforcement under certain circumstances.
Trump threatens to use Insurrection Act amid pushback against federal interventions
Trump discussed the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act during an Oval Office appearance on Monday. Asked “under what conditions or terms” he would use the act, Trump responded, “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 specified opposition to his policy of sending in troops to American cities. “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.”
Trump’s comments come as the president has faced opposition to his policies of sending National Guard and other federal troops into Democratic-controlled cities, ostensibly to protect federal assets and fight crime. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have raised heated objections to Trump’s efforts to send troops into Los Angeles and Chicago, respectively, and both states have sued the administration to oppose these mobilizations. Recently, separate judges blocked efforts by Trump to deploy Oregon National Guard troops or National Guard troops from other states to Portland. Pritzker said at a news conference Monday that “the Trump administration is following a playbook: Cause chaos, create fear and confusion, make it seem that peaceful protesters are a mob by firing gas pellets and tear gas canisters at them.” Pritzker argued these tactics are meant “to create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act.”
History of the Insurrection Act and Trump
Normally, the president is forbidden from using the U.S. military for domestic law enforcement purposes. The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the president to use military troops for law enforcement activities in the case of an insurrection or rebellion. The rarely used law has been evoked in circumstances such as the Civil War, fighting the Ku Klux Klan, and enforcing desegregation in the American South. The act was last used by President George H.W. Bush during the 1992 LA riots. Although Trump has not used the Insurrection Act, he and his supporters have a long history of floating the idea. Several sources indicated in 2020 that Trump planned to invoke the Insurrection Act against protesters in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, though Trump ultimately did not do this. After Trump’s election loss to Joe Biden that year, several prominent figures in the MAGA movement urged Trump to use the Insurrection Act as a way of staying in office. Ironically, an angry mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in what was widely described as an insurrection, attempting to interfere with the certification of Biden’s victory.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump indicated that he would use the act, and during his second term, the president and his supporters have used the term “insurrection” in an expanded way, perhaps as preparation for using the act. In January, Trump issued an executive order declaring a “national emergency” on the U.S. border with Mexico and mentioning the Insurrection Act as a possible tool to be used to deal with the situation. In June, Trump referred to protesters against ICE in Los Angeles as “troublemakers and insurrectionists.” On Monday, top Trump adviser Stephen Miller referred to judges’ rulings against Trump as a “legal insurrection” and “an insurrection against the laws and Constitution of the United States,” Politico reported.
After years of toying with the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act and months of publicly using the language of insurrection, Trump may be gearing up to actually use this law. Such a move would undoubtedly lead to additional challenges from targeted cities and states. If Trump does attempt to use the Insurrection Act, he will therefore be setting up new political and legal battles.