Insurrection Act of 1807
This is the law that Trump is trying to use, not Posse Comitatus. Legal opinions seem to doubt that it is applicable.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrection_Act_of_1807
Insurrection Act of 1807
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Insurrection Act)
Jump to navigationJump to search
Ambox current red Americas.svg
This article may be affected by the following current event: George Floyd protests. Information in this article may change rapidly as the event progresses. Initial news reports may be unreliable. The last updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. Please feel free to improve this article (but note that updates without valid and reliable references will be removed) or discuss changes on the talk page. (June 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Insurrection Act of 1807
Great Seal of the United States
Long title An Act authorizing the employment of the land and naval forces of the United States, in cases of insurrections
Enacted by the 9th United States Congress
Effective March 3, 1807
Citations
Public law 9-39
Statutes at Large 2 Stat. 443
Legislative history
Signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson on March 3, 1807
Major amendments
1871, 2006, 2007
The Insurrection Act of 1807 is a United States federal law (10 U.S.C. §§ 251–255; prior to 2016, 10 U.S.C. §§ 331–335) that empowers the president of the United States to deploy U.S. military and federalized National Guard troops within the United States in particular circumstances, such as to suppress civil disorder, insurrection and rebellion.
The act provides the "major exception" to the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the use of the U.S. military within the United States for law enforcement purposes.[1] The President must firstly issue a proclamation ordering the insurgents to immediately disperse (per 10 U.S.C. § 254).
Contents
1 Purpose and content
2 Application
3 List of invocations of Insurrection Act
4 References
5 External links
Purpose and content
The Act empowers the U.S. president to call into service the armed forces and the National Guard:
when requested by a state's legislature, or governor if the legislature cannot be convened, to address an insurrection against that state (§ 251
),
to address an insurrection, in any state, which makes it impracticable to enforce the law (§ 252
), or
to address an insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination or conspiracy, in any state, which results in the deprivation of Constitutionally-secured rights, and where the state is unable, fails, or refuses to protect said rights (§ 253
).
The 1807 Act replaced the earlier Calling Forth Act of 1792, which had allowed for federalization of state militias, with similar language that allowed either for federalization of state militias or use of the regular armed forces in the case of rebellion against a state government.[2]:60
The 1807 Act has been modified twice. In 1861, a new section was added allowing the federal government to use the National Guard and armed forces against the will of the state government in the case of "rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States," in anticipation of continued unrest after the Civil War.[3] In 1871, the Third Enforcement Act revised this section (§ 253) to protect African Americans from attacks by the Ku Klux Klan. The language added at that time allows the federal government to use the act to enforce the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[2]:63-64 This section of the act was invoked during the Reconstruction era, and again during desegregation fights during the Civil Rights Era.[4]
Application
The Insurrection Act has been invoked infrequently throughout American history. Governors have requested and received support most recently following looting in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.[5][6] Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy also invoked the Act in opposition to the affected states' political leaders to enforce court-ordered desegregation.[7]
In 2006, the George W. Bush administration considered intervening in the state of Louisiana's response to Hurricane Katrina despite the refusal from Louisiana's governor, but this was inconsistent with past precedent, politically difficult, and potentially unconstitutional.[2]:73-75 An amendment was made to the Insurrection Act by the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 to explicitly allow any emergency hindering the enforcement of laws, regardless of state consent, to be a cause for use of the military. Bush signed this amendment into law, but some months after it was enacted, all 50 state governors issued a joint statement against it, and the changes were repealed in January 2008.[1]
On June 1, 2020, President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Act in response to the nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd in police custody.[8][9]
List of invocations of Insurrection Act
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Date of invocation Invoking President State requested? Affected area Occasion
April 19, 1808 Thomas Jefferson Lake Champlain Embargo Act violations[7]
August 23, 1831 Andrew Jackson Yes Norfolk, Virginia Nat Turner's slave rebellion[10]
January 28, 1834 Andrew Jackson Yes Williamsport, Maryland Labor dispute by workers on Chesapeake and Ohio Canal[11]
October 17, 1871 Ulysses S. Grant No South Carolina Suppression of Ku Klux Klan[12]
September 15, 1872 Ulysses S. Grant No New Orleans, Louisiana Unrest following 1872 Louisiana gubernatorial election[13]
May 13, 1874 Ulysses S. Grant Yes Little Rock, Arkansas Brooks–Baxter War [14]
October 7, 1878 Rutherford B. Hayes Yes Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory Lincoln County War[15]
July 7, 1894 Grover Cleveland Yes Chicago, Illinois Pullman Strike[16][17]
April 28, 1914 Woodrow Wilson Yes[18] Colorado Colorado Coalfield War[19]
July 22, 1943 Franklin D. Roosevelt Yes Detroit, Michigan 1943 Detroit race riot[20]
September 24, 1957 Dwight D. Eisenhower No Little Rock, Arkansas To protect Little Rock Nine[21]:8
September 30, 1962 John F. Kennedy No Oxford, Mississippi Ole Miss riot of 1962[7]:13
September 10, 1963 John F. Kennedy No Alabama Enforce desegregation orders on Alabama public schools[7]:13
July 24, 1967 Lyndon B. Johnson Yes Detroit, Michigan 1967 Detroit riot[22]
April 5, 1968 Lyndon B. Johnson Yes Washington, D.C. 1968 Washington, D.C., riots[23]
April 7, 1968 Lyndon B. Johnson Yes Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore riot of 1968[24]
April 7, 1968 Lyndon B. Johnson Yes Chicago, Illinois 1968 Chicago riots[25]
September 1989 George H. W. Bush Yes Saint Croix, United States Virgin Islands Disorder following Hurricane Hugo[26]
May 1, 1992 George H. W. Bush Yes Los Angeles County, California 1992 Los Angeles riots[27]
PP