If the Trump administration invokes the Insurrection Act, it would be another signal that the Trump and Conservatives hate America. The Insurrection Act grants the president sweeping authority to deploy the military in American cities and bypasses traditional law enforcement. Historically, the military has been kept separate from domestic policing because the founders feared too much executive control over the military inside civilian life.
By dangling the threat of activating this old but potent power, Trump is effectively saying that cities and states that resist his will be put down by federal soldiers. Trump has said:
“We have an Insurrection Act for a reason … if people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that.”
The threat of using it against normal civil-governance processes, in cities led by Democrats sets a dangerous precedent.
Legal scholars have noted that the act’s language is vague and terms like “unlawful obstructions, combinations or assemblages or rebellion” are undefined, leaving extraordinary discretion to the executive. Even worse, this Supreme Court has shown deference to the president’s judgement in this arena, and the mechanism of accountability is weak. If the Insurrection Act becomes just another tool in the political toolbox, we inch toward a system in which dissent, local autonomy, and checks on power are replaced by executive force.
Using the Insurrection Act outside of its historical, narrow usage would be a stark warning that once the threshold of deploying troops in domestic politics is crossed, there is no clear path back to the old normal. The Republic itself will suffer another blow, and the precedent is set.
Comments
Post a Comment