(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota as protesters continue to object to an ICE surge following the shooting death of Renee Good by an ICE agent.
It isn’t the first time the president has threatened to invoke the act, which has been used in the past by presidents under varying circumstances.
What is the Insurrection Act?
The Insurrection Act is a law that allows the president to deploy the military or National Guard to take part in law enforcement activity.
Normally, this is prohibited under the Posse Comitatus Act, but the Insurrection Act allows for an exception, in the event there is a crisist that civilian law enforcement can’t control.
However, the act doesn’t clearly define what criteria a crisis needs to meet, giving presidents broad latitude to invoke the act.
“There aren’t concrete guidelines,” former Deputy Attorney General Tom Dupree told NewsNation. “It is not something that presidents routinely invoke, and it’s not a law that the federal courts are used to applying or interpreting.”
What justifications can be used to invoke the Insurrection Act?
There are three justifications that can be used to invoke the Insurrection Act.
The first is when a state legislature or governor requests assistance to suppress an insurrection, which is the most commonly used justification for invoking the act.
The second allows the president to invoke the Insurrection Act without a request to enforce the laws of the United States or suppress a rebellion. This can be done even when state leaders object.
The third allows for the deployment of forces to protect the civil rights of Americans when they are being unlawfully obstructed.
In the past 130 years, the act has only been invoked when states request assistance or when states themselves are acting in a way that violates the civil rights of Americans.
Has the Insurrection Act been invoked before?
The Insurrection Act has been invoked around 30 times in U.S. history, beginning in the early years of the country’s founding, when it was used to suppress rebellions.
One of the most famous uses of the act was when Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson all invoked the Insurrection Act during the Civil Rights movement, using it to enforce federal orders for the desegregation of schools and other institutions.
Most recently, the Insurrection Act was invoked in 1992, when President George H. W. Bush sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots, at the request of California’s governor.
What happens if Trump invokes the Insurrection Act?
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has vowed to sue the Trump administration if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.
“It could be challenged, but I think it’s fair to say, the courts and certainly the United States Supreme Court are going to recognize fairly broad presidential authority in this context,” Dupree said.
Courts have previously limited the extent to which Trump can use National Guard troops in cities where state and local officials object to their presence. However, in those deployments, the Insurrection Act has not been officially invoked.