Two Democratic senators are urging the Biden administration to try to limit President-elect Donald Trump’s ability to deploy military forces inside the United States after he takes office.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), both members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a letter dated Nov. 26 to President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urging them to issue a policy directive that “prohibits the mobilization of active duty military or federalizing National Guard personnel to be deployed against their fellow Americans unless specifically authorized.”
The senators specifically asked Biden to clarify the conditions under which the Insurrection Act—an 1807 federal law authorizing the president to use military force domestically—can be invoked. They emphasized that it should be reserved for extreme circumstances where state and local authorities are overwhelmed by an insurrection, rebellion, or civil unrest and request federal assistance….