“I’d have to pull up the specific provision, but our Office of General Counsel, alongside our leadership, has reviewed and ensured in the order that we set out that it’s completely constitutional for the president to use federal troops to defend federal law enforcement,” Hegseth said. But the order itself appears to violate the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law dating back to 1878 that forbids the government from using the military for law enforcement purposes. The White House could have bypassed the military doctrine by invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to utilize the military during periods of rebellion or mass civil unrest, but had not done so by the time of the order.
Author: Malcolm Ferguson
Published at: 2025-06-11 21:29:53
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