Trump Insurrection Act to send in military for protests
Protests in memory of George Floyd, including some in Greenville, turned violent this week. On Monday, President Trump announced he will deploy the military to certain states if governors do not take action themselves.
"I am mobilizing all available federal resources, civilian and military, to stop the rioting and looting, to end the destruction and arson, and to protect the rights of law-abiding Americans including your 2nd Amendment rights,” he said.
North Carolina’s governor Roy Cooper said that they have already provided the necessary assistance. "It is important that people have the opportunity to protest,” he said. “[Assistance] has come in the form of the state highway patrol, alcohol law enforcement, the state bureau of investigation, the national guard...”
US Congressman Greg Murphy, however, is still concerned about the violence in these protests. "When groups turn to violence, looting and criminal activity in the name of pursuing justice, it does nothing for the pursuit of justice,” he explained.
An ECU historian, Gerald Prokopowicz, said the President is legally able to send in military to states under the 1807 Insurrection Act, even if it goes against the wishes of the state's governor.
The act allows troops to be deployed to states if governors request it, or if states cannot control or are abetting the breaking of the law.
But Prokopowicz said the act hadn’t really been enacted majorly and in the way that Trump is suggesting since the Civil Rights era.
"Using federal forces to override those is not something we've seen in recent American history and would really be a challenge to the federal system,” he explained.
