Trump Threatens to Grab Protestors By the Posse
May 31, 2020
Donald Trump has threatened to unleash “the unlimited power of our Military” to
quell the Minnesota uprising, using the U.S. army to essentially “invade” a
state without a governor’s consent, writes Joe Lauria.
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
President Donald Trump has threatened to send “active duty” U.S. military to
Minnesota to quell the uprising against the police killing of yet another
unarmed African-American even though the state’s governor had not accepted
Trump’s offer.
The president made his intention known in a series of tweets on Friday:
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
· May 29, 2020
I can’t stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A
total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey,
get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the
National Guard & get the job done right.....
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
....These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let
that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is
with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the
looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!
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12:53 AM - May 29, 2020
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Trump said “we will assume control,” clearly meaning the federal government.
The National Guard of each state is controlled by the state governor.
The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration has offered “the use
of active-duty soldiers and intelligence,” including “some forces who were put
on alert to deploy.”
The New York Times and other media said “military police” were being prepared
by the Pentagon and that it would be the first deployment of MPs since the
Rodney King uprisings in Los Angeles of 1992.
Trump’s threats to deploy federal troops raise the legal question of whether
the U.S. federal army can be deployed on U.S. soil for law enforcement purposes.
Occupying the South
Hayes. (Wikimedia Commons)
After federal troops had put down the Confederate rebellion in 1865, they
continued to occupy southern states for another 12 years. When the 1876
presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat
Samuel J. Tilden ended in a virtual deadlock, with 20 electoral votes
unresolved, Southern states allowed Hayes to become president in exchange for
the removal of federal troops in what became known as the Compromise of 1877.
After Hayes soon reneged on the deal and deployed federal troops to put down
the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act of
1878 to codify the agreement. The Act today reads:
“Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the
Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air
Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined
under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”
The exceptions authorized by Congress would be critical. In 1957, President
Dwight D. Eisenhower found an exception to the Act to return federal troops
South to Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce desegregation of the schools after
the governor refused to obey a 1954 Supreme Court decision ruling school
segregation unconstitutional.
Eisenhower
Eisenhower drew on the Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871 that enforced blacks’
rights to vote, hold office, serve on juries and get equal protection under the
law.
1967 Detroit Riots
In July 1967, President Lyndon Johnson sent 5,000 federal troops to Detroit,
the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, after a request from the Michigan
governor to put down five-days of rioting sparked by a police raid on an
African-American, unlicensed, after-hours bar.
Johnson told a national television audience that he was acting under the
“Constitution” and “the statutes,” though he did not name them.
Michigan Gov. George Romney had declared a “state of insurrection.” In his
executive order, Johnson cited 10 U.S. code, Chap. 15– Military Support for
Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies.
The Detroit uprising was the worst in the U.S. since the 1863 Draft Riot in New
York City. After five days, 41 people were dead, and more than 1,300 buildings
burned.
In 1992, President George H.W. Bush deployed 4,000 Army and Marine troops to
Los Angeles to put down riots after the police who beat Rodney King were
acquitted. Bush’s exception was to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act. It reads
today:
“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.”
The Act does not require the agreement of local authorities for the president
to deploy troops to put down an insurrection.
Bush’s son, George W. Bush, in 2006 successfully asked Congress to expand the
Insurrection Act to allow deployment of federal troops in case of a natural
disaster or a terrorist attack, thereby weakening the intent of the Posse
Comitatus Act.
When Barack Obama signed the 2012 Defense Authorization Act on New Year’s Eve
2011, he was agreeing to allow indefinite military detention of civilians in
the U.S. and anywhere abroad. “There is substantial public debate and
uncertainty around whether Sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA could be read
even to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act and authorize indefinite military
detention without charge or trial within the United States,” the American Civil
Liberties Union said.
LA police beating Rodney King. (Flickr)
Given this legal background it appears Trump could follow through with his
threat, even if local authorities don’t agree.
Francis Boyle, a University of Illinois professor of international law, said
Attorney General William Barr “worked for [H.W.] Bush, he has been through this
exercise before and is aware of what happened and the legal precedents and
authority. I am sure he has advised Trump he can pull the Federal Trigger if he
wants to no matter what the Minnesota governor wants.”
“My guess is Trump probably will,” said Boyle. “Makes him look like the Law and
Order guy for the campaign. Distracts from his Covid-19 disaster.” So far
Trump seems satisfied with the Minnesota National Guard’s performance on
Saturday night.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
The National Guard has been released in Minneapolis to do the job that the
Democrat Mayor couldn’t do. Should have been used 2 days ago & there would not
have been damage & Police Headquarters would not have been taken over & ruined.
Great job by the National Guard. No games!
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But it is chilling to think that he’s got the legal exceptions to round up a
posse and send it to Minneapolis or any of the 48 cities that are on fire.
