The last use of the legislation was in 1992, when President George H. W. Bush invoked it to send troops to Los Angeles to put down riots.
As protests against federal immigration enforcement flared across Los Angeles over the weekend, questions have arisen about whether President Donald Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, and send active duty U.S. military members to quell the rioting and vandalism.
The law allows the president to deploy the National Guard or other U.S. military personnel to put down an uprising that interferes with the rights of the populace if “the constituted authorities of that state are unable, fail, or refuse” to do so.
Here’s what to know.
The Insurrection Act
The law has its origin in the 1792 legislation that allowed the federal government to call up state militias “to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.”
The 1807 Insurrection Act added additional powers for the president, including the ability to deploy active duty federal troops without the request or support of state government actors.
It provides some of the only exceptions to the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law that generally forbids the use of the military against American citizens.
Those exceptions include suppressing insurrections, enforcing federal authority, and protecting civil rights when state authorities fail to act.
Nevertheless, federal troops and guardsmen can be deployed in certain circumstances even without the invocation of the act.
In such cases, they are permitted to protect federal personnel and property, but cannot make arrests or perform other law enforcement activities unless the president invokes insurrection law.
Although he has not yet officially invoked the act, on June 7, Trump announced he has authorized 2,000 National Guard troops for deployment to Los Angeles to quell the riots, despite objections by California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Pentagon on June 9 confirmed that 700 U.S. Marines were deploying from Camp Pendleton to Los Angeles to protect federal buildings and personnel.
By Stacy Robinson and Joseph Lord
