Not So Fast

Trump: The insurrection act which has been used by the 48% of the presidents as of this moment… And if I needed it, I'd use it I don't think there's any reason to use it. But if I needed it, I would use it. It's very powerful. pic.twitter.com/HQ0COE3PvB

— Acyn (@Acyn) January 16, 2026

Hmmmm...

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, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.

What “ordinary course of judicial proceedings” is being interrupted In Minneapolis? The ability to go door to door and demand access to all occupants in any house? The ability to detain citizens for being “near” suspected immigrants who may be present in country without authority? The ability to kill people on the streets with impunity? Or partially blind them? Or demand proof of citizenship which can only be proven by detention and records review? Or arrest people for protesting, on the grounds they are “interfering” with law enforcement?

The Insurrection Act is meant to enforce the Constitution, not run roughshod over it. Enforcing the 1st, 4th and 5th amendments is not “mak[ing] it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States” when it’s the federal government violating those laws. Trump can nationalize the National Guard if he sees fit. But the courts have turned against him on that, mostly because of what ICE is now doing in Minneapolis. Perhaps he thinks the Insurrection Act gives him more power.

And when does the “rebellion” end? When ICE gets free rein because the Marines have shut down Minneapolis and ordered everyone into their homes at gunpoint?

10 USC 252 only gives Trump the power to enforce the laws; the law ICE is violating. It certainly doesn’t give him the power of a dictator, or the authority to impose martial law. There’s some loose and fearful speculation he’d use it to suspend the midterms. But that would require declaring an insurrection consistent with the statute in all 50 states, simultaneously.

That’s ignorant fantasy, IOW. The kind Trump deals in, more and more and more.