NBC News reports:
President Donald Trump could announce as early as Monday night that he’s invoking a 213-year-old federal law that would allow him to deploy active-duty U.S. troops to respond to protests in cities across the country, according to four people familiar with the decision. The military police forces would come from Fort Bragg in North Carolina and possibly Fort Belvoir in Virginia and could arrive in Washington within hours, these people said.
In the past the Justice Department has drafted such proclamations. And according to the Congressional Research Service, the act has been invoked many times throughout U.S. history, although rarely since the 1960s civil rights era. When it was invoked in 1992 during the Los Angeles riots, the move was requested by then-California Gov. Pete Wilson, not invoked solely by President George H.W. Bush.
The Insurrection Act requires:
“Domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that the constituted authorities of the State or possession are incapable of maintaining public order”
One, that threshold hasn’t been met. Two, it’s weird how the GOP suddenly likes martial law. https://t.co/fmdX6qupW9
— Angry Staffer (@AngrierWHStaff) June 1, 2020
The President is weighing whether to invoke the Insurrection Act to bypass the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 barring a standing Army on US soil. The active duty troops being sent to DC from Fort Bragg have not yet been given a mission. POTUS tells Governors Gen Milley is in charge.
— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) June 1, 2020