Congress needs to fix a 'dangerous, centuries-old federal statute' before it gets abused: legal experts
Story by Alex Henderson •
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2024 GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, according to the Washington Post, plans to invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office if he wins the 2024 election and there are large protests — a proposal that Trump's critics have been slamming as dangerously authoritarian.
The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Rutherford B. Hayes (a former Whig turned Republican), limits the use of the U.S. military for law enforcement within the United States. But the Insurrection Act of 1807 remains an exception to the 1878 law.
In an essay/op-ed published by the New York Times on December 27, legal scholars Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith warn that the Insurrection Act needs to be reformed before it abused — and not just because of Trump.
"The Insurrection Act is a dangerous centuries-old federal statute that authorizes the president, with few restraints, to deploy the U.S. military inside the United States to suppress threats the president perceives to the constitutional order," Bauer and Goldsmith explain. "Commentators have recently proposed tightening the law following reports that former President Donald Trump and his advisers are planning to use it aggressively for law enforcement and to quell domestic disturbances if Mr. Trump is once more elected. This focus on Trump is understandable but inadequate in capturing the compelling case for reform."
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/congress-needs-to-fix-a-dangerous-centuries-old-federal-statute-before-it-gets-abused-legal-experts/ar-AA1m6w8g?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=2fdbb1f8af00433990796e6aed20c799&ei=61
