Updated: September 14, 2020 9:23:41 pm
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania (AP)
Republican strategist and convicted felon Roger Stone, whose 40-month prison sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump in July, suggested last week that Trump should enforce martial law in the United States and take power if he loses the US election. November 3.
Trump, who is behind Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in presidential polls, has repeatedly thrown uncertainty about whether he would accept the election results. “The only way we are going to lose this election is if the election is rigged,” he said last month.
Stone, who calls himself a “dirty cheater” and an “agent provocateur,” is a longtime Trump ally, and was sentenced in November 2019 for attempting to help Trump evade responsibility in allegations of that his 2016 presidential campaign conspired with Russia.
Speaking to the conspiracy theory website InfoWars last week, Stone said Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 and arrest Hillary and Bill Clinton, Democratic Party heavyweight Harry Reid, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Apple Cook and “anyone else who can be proven to be involved in illegal activity.”
On Saturday, Trump echoed the sentiment during an interview with Fox News, saying that if left-wing protests sweep across the United States should he win re-election, he would use the Act to “quell” demonstrations and riots “in minutes. “.
What is the Insurrection Law of 1807?
Under the United States Constitution, state governors are responsible for maintaining law and order within state boundaries. A law called the Posse Comitatus Act, which reflects this principle, restricts the participation of the federal military in the application of national law. The Insurrection Law creates an exception to the Posse Comitatus Law, according to Reuters.
The Insurrectin Act was framed during the era of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, to prevent an alleged rebellion by Aaron Burr, his former vice president, according to The Washington Post.
Since then, the law has been amended several times and now consists of a group of statutes that empower the president of the United States to use the National Guard or the military to deal with internal crises, in certain circumstances.
The president does not require the approval of the state governor to send troops in some scenarios established by law, according to an expert who spoke to Reuters. A successful legal challenge to such a use of the law is also “highly unlikely,” the expert said.
Although the law has been applied numerous times throughout the history of the United States, its use in recent decades has been considered unpopular. It has been used sparingly since the 1960s and was last invoked during the Rodney King riots of 1992.
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Has Trump ever tried to use the Law?
The Trump administration contemplated its use to address nationwide protests following George Floyd’s death this year. In early June, Trump said, “If a city or state refuses to take the necessary steps to defend the life and property of its residents, I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”
The plan was rejected by various quarters, including the military establishment, and was eventually abandoned.
In July, however, Trump sent federal agents to deal with the protests in Portland, Oregon, against the wishes of state and local officials, and did not rely on the Insurrection Act to do so. Some analysts see the controversial decision as a test by Trump, who they say would act similarly on a much larger scale if things did not turn out in his favor after November 3.
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