OldLady
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- Nov 16, 2015
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NPR says he CAN.Doesn't the Posse Comitatus Act limit his authority? Require Congress's approval? I don't know. NPR seems to feel he can.You can't use the military as a police force. It goes against the Posse Act. The are only a very few instances where the military can be deployed.
Indeed. The Insurrection Act. The one Trump is considering.
Esper's opinion is of no consequence beyond advisory. Attempting to debate the boss in public is a sure path to the exit.
What Is The Insurrection Act That Trump Is Threatening To Invoke?
The 213-year-old law allows a president to "call forth the militia for the purpose of suppressing" an insurrection. Trump threatened to deploy the military to states that don't quell violent protests.www.npr.org
But the Posse Comitatus Act would seem to limit that.
Sec. 15. From and after the passage of this act it shall not be lawful to employ any part of the Army of the United States, as a posse comitatus, or otherwise, for the purpose of executing the laws, except in such cases and under such circumstances as such employment of said force may be expressly authorized by the Constitution or by act of Congress;
NPR is wrong. The Insurrection Act overrides Posse Comitatus.
As to whether a state must request the presence of those military forces in the state, that's "not necessarily" the case, according to experts.
A section of the law (§251) says (emphasis ours):
But the next section (§252) says:"[T]he President may, upon the request of its legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be convened, call into Federal service such of the militia."
"Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion."
What Is The Insurrection Act That Trump Is Threatening To Invoke?
The 213-year-old law allows a president to "call forth the militia for the purpose of suppressing" an insurrection. Trump threatened to deploy the military to states that don't quell violent protests.
www.npr.org