Can Trump legally deploy US troops in cities?

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Trump cannot deploy military in states 3:40

(CNN) - President Donald Trump threatened, on Monday night, to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and take the unusual step of deploying active-duty US soldiers to guard the streets of the country.

While Trump claims the move would dissolve anti-fascists, or Antifa, who he says are organizing violent riots that have led to looting, it would also effectively stifle peaceful protests for racial justice after death last week, George Floyd, a black man against whom a police officer used deadly force during his arrest.

• What's going on in the US? Death of a black man at the hands of white police sparked protests across the country

That would be a notable twist on the law, which was used primarily in the 1950s to enforce desegregation. And then, in the 1960s, to tackle the riots in Detroit.

According to the Congressional Investigation Service, the law has not been invoked since 1992, during the Los Angeles riots that followed the acquittal of four white police officers who beat up Rodney King. The now Attorney General, William Barr, was actually also Attorney General at the time, under the government of former President George HW Bush.

Congress amended the law after Hurricane Katrina in 2006 to clarify its use during natural disasters, but left some of those changes a year later after objections from the governors, who did not want to give up their authority.

But Trump said Monday that if the governors did not act as he wanted, he would call in the Army.

"If the city or state refuses to take the necessary steps to defend the life and property of your residence, then I will deploy the United States Army and resolve the problem quickly," he said.

• Trump, alone, cannot send the military to the streets

But there may be restrictions on what Trump can do.

A section of the law suggests that states must first apply for aid, but other parts of the Insurrection Act do not require the approval of a governor or the state legislature, such as when the president determines that the situation in one state makes it impossible to enforce United States laws or when citizens' rights are reduced.

"Historically and practically, such a request is not necessarily a prerequisite for the president to use regular federal troops for national law enforcement," said Stephen Vladeck, professor of law at the University of Texas and a contributor to CNN.

There are examples of presidents using troops on governors' objections, such as Dwight Eisenhower (and later John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson) during the Civil Rights era. In particular, Eisenhower invoked the Insurrection Act when he federalized the Arkansas National Guard and then sent the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock to integrate the schools.

• Trump's threatening message follows the script of the 1960s

That use may have been on the mind of Senator Tom Cotton, the Arkansas Republican, when he suggested on Twitter that Trump employ the 101st Airborne Division.

Governors quickly contested Trump, as JB Pritzker of Illinois did on CNN shortly after Trump's comments.

"I reject the idea that the federal government can send troops to the state of Illinois," said Pritzker, a Democrat. “The fact is, the President has created an incendiary moment here. He wants to change the subject of his failure to the coronavirus, a miserable failure and now he sees a time when there are riots due to the injustice done to George Floyd that he now wants to create another topic and something where he can be the president of the law and order ”.

Donald trump