American legacy of keeping military forces out of civilian affairs is at stake

 

There is a long American tradition of keeping the military forces out of civilian affairs.

The nation’s founders, having witnessed abuses by the British military during colonial times, feared that giving the president unlimited control over troops would erode civil liberties and the democratic process. Under the constitution, governors generally have the authority to maintain order within state borders.

These principles are embodied in the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law that generally barred the military from participating in civilian law enforcement activities. The Insurrection Act functions as a statutory exception to the Posse Comitatus Act.

The White House suggested that Donald Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act in order to send US troops to Portland. He has already tried to label far left anti-fascist, or Antifa, protesters, as domestic terrorists. How Donald Trump can invoke the Insurrection Act.

US President Donald Trump and his top aides are using the word “insurrection” more frequently to describe anti-ICE protests in places like Portland.
Trump also told reporters he could potentially invoke the Insurrection Act to send US troops to cities.

“I really think that’s really criminal insurrection,” he said in the White House of protests in Portland, before promising to make the city safe.
His aide Stephen Miller referred to a judge’s order barring, for now, the deployment of National Guard troops in Portland over the objections of local officials as “legal insurrection.”

“There is an effort to delegitimize the core function of the federal government of enforcing our immigration laws and our sovereignty,” Miller said later on. It’s with that context that a reporter asked Trump if he would invoke the Insurrection Act to get around temporary restraining orders and deploy National Guards where governors and mayors don’t want them.

Trump suggested he could invoke the Insurrection Act in order to send US troops to Portland. He has already tried to label far left anti-fascist protesters as domestic terrorists.

“We have an Insurrection Act for a reason,” Trump said Monday. “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 would do that.”

The law allows the deployment of troops in the US in certain limited situations. First passed in 1792, it was last tweaked in 1871.
The Insurrection Act works in tandem with the Posse Comitatus Act, which was passed in 1878 and generally prohibits the use of the military inside the US.

First, a state’s governor or legislature can request it. That’s what happened in 1992, the last time the Insurrection Act was invoked.