In 1878, as this country struggled to undo a lot of what was won in the Civil War during Reconstruction, Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act – making it illegal to use the nation’s military in domestic law-enforcement (As the Union had done in occupying the South). So, no military involvement in domestic law enforcement, hence the birth of the FBI, the DEA, ATF, and… ICE, Border Patrol, etc. Case closed, no military enforcement. Right?
No, not quite, there is the Insurrection Act which – even though passed before the 1878 act, does allow for a president to use the military in times of extreme national emergencies. Suffice it to say that many worry that President-elect Donald Trump’s view of what qualifies as an “extreme” emergency of the type warranting the use of the military might be too loose and want it tightened up to match tradition – or at least Senators Warren and Blumenthal seem to believe so.
According to CNBC reporting, Sen. Warren and Blumenthal wrote a letter to President Biden asking for a policy directive reinforcing the limited use of the military. From the letter:
“We urge you to issue a policy directive that makes clear that the narrow application of the Insurrection Act should be limited to instances when State or local authorities are so overwhelmed and that the chief executive of the State requests assistance or attacks against the U.S. government overwhelm State or local authorities.”
And you will very quickly then say, “Yeah – but… ” And you will be right. Donald Trump can reverse the policy directive the moment his hand comes down off the Bible. But there may be a benefit into forcing a discussion on when and how to change such a policy directive beforehand. It puts the entire issue in the national news before it becomes news. The incoming administration will at least have to explain what they’re doing more “out loud” – for lack of a better term.
“Given the disagreement amongst scholars on the serious implications of the recent Supreme Court decision, it is reasonable to assume that service members, other DoD personnel, and the broader military community may not be aware of or fully understand their rights and responsibilities.”
Well, the disagreements won’t necessarily go away so much as be expressed – which is sort of the point in having this matter come out now, in this context, before Donald Trump calls on the military to help detain undocumented immigrants in a state like.. California, to have the military run detention centers with undocumented immigrants or anyone else who might qualify as “the enemy within.” Donald Trump has mused about such things in the past, when he said:
“I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the — and it should be very easily handled by — if necessary, by National Guard or, if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”
Can’t let what happen? He talks about sick, radical left lunatics but stops well short of what it is that the military is supposed to do about “letting that happen.” One genuinely hopes that he’s not simply saying that the country can’t let “radical left lunatics happen” because that makes no sense unless you are simply going to round-up Democrats. I truly doubt that even the most-committed Trump supporters want “thought police” in place, never mind the actual military being out rounding people up. (I don’t doubt some of his supporters do favor imprisoning Democrats for being Democrats, I just doubt that most supporters will ever go along with that.)
And that is sort of the point. Put the policy directive into play such that there is a discussion about whether the country really wants the greatest military power ever assembled to be spending more time in the California Central Valley than the Eastern Pacific. Does the average Trump supporter want to see their neighbors rounded up for simply running as a Democrat? Opposed to Trump’s views? The average writer? I doubt it – but that is why it is important to put this stuff out there.
Eventually, Donald Trump is the one who is going to have to decide if he wants to be president of a nation or only his “type” – whether he wants to be president of the nation that put him in place – the “United States” or not. It will be up to him. I haven’t read anything yet from Senator Warren, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Mark Cuban, or Lebron James – as just examples of critics – none of them saying that Trump isn’t the rightful incoming president of all of us. Now he has to choose whether he wants to embrace “all” Americans and leave the thought police – and the military – out of this all together. Or not.
“Making America Great Again” doesn’t sound like anything that ever required a gun as persuasion. He should have to talk more about why he believes he would ever need to use the military and what to do about “radical left lunatics” who simply disagree with him. To that end, the policy directive sounds like a good idea – or, at worst, harmless.
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and @JasonMiciak and now on Blue Sky
Jason, you underestimate these people. He is never going to be president for all of us, it’s only for his people and then only if they behave appropriately. We are sub human to him and not part of the country, only his people count. Go back and look to see what he says and means.
Janeto, I think his people only count to the extent they have a use. And that still doesn’t stretch very far. As long as corporate media remains in power we have bigger fish to fry. And Jason, the policy directive does sound like a good idea but we are running out of time. How quickly can they have it done with less than a month????? These days i am visualizing Constitutional Law with wings, as it gets selectively thrown out the window. Keep the faith y’all.