***Honest question. I’ve been told that a President can’t call up the National Guard without a request from a Governor, yet Trump often talks about sending in the National Guard to Minneapolis and Seattle during the 2020 riots, without a request from their Governors. How do you reconcile those two statements?
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There is a difference between Title 10 and Title 32 mobilizations.
“When mobilized (or activated) under Title 10 U.S.C., you are directed by the president to report for active duty in an official capacity. You are being activated for federal active-duty military service.”
“Activation under Title 32 U.S.C. means that your state’s governor has been authorized or directed by the president to mobilize or activate the National Guard in your state. You perform on active duty under state control, but with pay and benefits provided by the federal government.”
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Interesting. So am I correct in assuming that invoking Title 10 would be limited by the Posse Comitatus Act? (i.e. prohibited unless the Insurrection Act is invoked). Trump never invoked the Insurrection Act, so he couldn’t have sent NG troops to MN and WA without their Governors’ requests, despite what he has said on numerous occasions at his rallies.
On a side note, it’s interesting that Trump never declared the Insurrection Act either during the summer of 2020 or in Washington on Jan. 6th. That would seem to be a political calculation on his part rather than a strict legal prohibition. Both situations could reasonably have been argued to have qualified. Lyndon Johnson invoked the act 5 times to deal with riots. JFK invoked it three times, and FDR invoked it once to deal with a riot. The last time a President invoked the Insurrection Act was in 1992 when Bush Sr. called out the NG to deal with the Rodney King riots in L.A.
I just did a quick internet search, and it appears that both Inslee and Waltz eventually called out the National Guard in May of 2020 for their respective states (i.e. WA and MN). Trump’s narrative implies otherwise. My guess is there was probably some form of pressure being applied behind the scenes by Trump in order to get them to finally call out the NG for their states. Perhaps he threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if they didn’t. Either way, it’s interesting and a little puzzling why Trump never invoked the Insurrection Act for the Capitol riots on Jan. 6th. I’m sure he had his reasons, but in hind sight one wonders if things would have played out for the better if he had.