Trump says he could use US military in George Floyd protests. What does the law say?
President Donald Trump says he may deploy the U.S. military to respond to protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody.
Trump made the comments during a press conference Monday as protests nationwide have turned violent since Floyd, a black man, died after a police officer pinned him to the ground in Minneapolis.
Trump said he could mobilize “heavily armed” military to stop protests that have turned chaotic across the country after a video showed the police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck. In many cases, riots have broken out in major cities in the U.S.
While Trump did not name a law, the Insurrection Act is the presidential power he could use to deploy military in an emergency.
The law gives the president the ability to deploy the military “to suppress, in any State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy,” according to Berkeley Law.
It was passed in 1807 and used in May 1992 when California Gov. Pete Wilson requested federal military assistance in response to riots in Los Angeles after the arrest and beating of Rodney King, according to Just Security.
When asked Monday about using forces beyond the National Guard to respond to protests, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said “we’re looking at every tool in the federal tool kit available to us.”
News outlets have also reported that Trump is considering invoking the 213-year-old federal law that would allow him to deploy active-duty military troops, NBC News reported.
“Ideally this would’ve been resolved at the state level,” McEnany said. “The states, after all, have the police power embedded in the 10th Amendment and it is their responsibility to patrol their streets. But you’re right to say there are many federal authorities, including the one you cited (Insurrection Act), available to us.”
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said Monday that Trump should use the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to cities where protests and riots are taking place, according to The Hill.
“If necessary the president should use the Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty military forces to these cities to support our local law enforcement and ensure that this violence ends tonight, not one more night,” Cotton said on Fox News.
McEnany said the act is “one of the tools available.”
“Whether the president decides to pursue that, that’s his prerogative,” she said. “Right now, we’re looking at a focus on the National Guard. That’s where it currently stands. There’s a distinction between the National Guard and military forces in the street, I would note. The National Guard are friends and neighbors in these communities who are used ... and used to great effect when they are deployed.”
