President Trump has placed federal troops on alert for possible deployment to Minnesota. The Wall Street Journal reports:
About 1,500 active-duty soldiers have been placed on alert for a potential deployment to Minnesota in response to widespread protests over immigration enforcement in the state, according to four defense officials.
The Pentagon has ordered the soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division to prepare to deploy, meaning they are ready to quickly move to Minnesota if the order is given, three of the officials said. The move is “precautionary” in case the unit is needed, one of the defense officials said.
The 11th Airborne operates out of Alaska and specializes in cold-weather operations. Highly appropriate, as the forecast for Friday is a high temperature of 13 degrees below zero, and a low of -24. So, yeah, cold weather. But I don’t suppose a lot of liberals will be rioting in that weather.
In response to the Minnesota protests, President Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act—a 19th-century law allowing the president to deploy the military in a civilian law-enforcement role inside the country to “suppress rebellion” against the U.S. government.
A 19th century law? The horror! Someone should tell the Journal that our Constitution is an 18th century document, and many of the most important statutes in our history date from the 19th century. And the Insurrection Act is not merely intended to “suppress rebellion,” although God knows we need rebellion suppression in Minnesota. It is much broader than that. It might seem miraculous, but the text of the Insurrection Act is widely available on the internet, even though it is never quoted in the “news.”
It says:
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 [Ed.: For example, the 11th Airborne], as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.
Also this:
The President, by using the militia or the armed forces, or both, or by any other means, shall take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, if it–
***
(2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.
The Insurrection Act perfectly describes what is now happening in Tim Walz’s Minnesota. I don’t think there is any doubt, as a legal matter, that President Trump has the authority to send the 11th Airborne, or any other military units, to Minnesota to restore order. Whether such a move would be wise, politically, I leave to others.
