President Donald Trump said Monday he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act to bypass court rulings and deploy federal troops in U.S. cities where local officials are resisting. “We have an Insurrection Act for a reason,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding, “If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that.”
That remark marks a sharp turn in Trump’s escalating standoff with Democratic-led cities over the use of the military in domestic law enforcement. His broader campaign has already seen federalization of National Guard units in Chicago, Portland, and Los Angeles despite resistance from state and local governments and court interventions.
The Insurrection Act is a rare legal exception to the general prohibition on military involvement in civilian policing under the Posse Comitatus Act. Under it, a president may deploy military forces domestically in cases of rebellion, insurrection, or other serious breakdowns of law and order.
Trump has already ordered Guard troops to Chicago (300 from Illinois, 400 from Texas) and attempted to send units to Portland, prompting legal challenges in both states. In Oregon a federal judge blocked deployment, ruling that Trump had not shown the level of unrest needed to justify military intrusion.
In Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker accused Trump of politicizing troops, saying he was “using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities.” Illinois and Chicago also filed suit to block the federalization of Guard soldiers.
Legal scholars warn that invoking the Insurrection Act would invite intense litigation and constitutional scrutiny. The Supreme Court has previously ruled that the president holds the power to determine whether the statute’s conditions have been met. Trump’s proposed invocation would represent a historic escalation: the last time a president federalized guard troops without a governor’s request was in 1965 during the civil rights era.
In California, a federal judge ruled that the administration had violated the Posse Comitatus Act by deploying troops to Los Angeles without state consent. In Portland, Judge Karin Immergut—appointed by Trump—also issued a restraining order, declaring that the claims of violence were “untethered to the facts.”
Should Trump proceed, courts will likely be forced to address, for the first time in years, how far the executive can push military presence into domestic law enforcement. Governors and mayors already opposed to the deployment will press their case in federal courts, and the White House is expected to appeal adverse ruling.
Africa Digital News, New York
