Cato Expert: Trump’s Insurrection Act Threat Should Be Disavowed

“President Trump’s recent threat to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to unrest in Minnesota should be swiftly and forcefully disavowed by cooler heads. The Insurrection Act is an extraordinary and hazardous power that permits the president to deploy the U.S. military for domestic law enforcement purposes in narrow, historically exceptional circumstances. Treating it as a routine response to civil unrest would dangerously lower the bar for military involvement in civilian affairs.

The situation in Minneapolis is already volatile, in significant part because of the federal government’s own actions. The administration’s decision to flood the city with thousands of ICE agents employing aggressive enforcement tactics has predictably heightened tensions, particularly in the wake of the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good and subsequent use-of-force incidents. Against that backdrop, threatening to introduce military troops who are not trained for civilian policing and whose presence would inevitably provoke additional confrontations risks turning what is now a slow burn into a conflagration. Invoking the Insurrection Act here would not restore order. Instead, it would escalate conflict while establishing a perilous precedent.”