The governor supposedly has to call for POTUS to help; the mayor could petition the governor to act, which looks like what happened in Louisville. IMO, if the governor(s) and mayors would rather let the cities burn so that they can blame POTUS, local citizens could band together and petition the Prez to restore law and order.
For POTUS to act with no state or local call - while incomprehensible - can lead to trouble. POTUS could declare an insurrection and name state and local officials complicit in order to act - sort of what Lincoln had to do with no local cooperation - but that led to the War Between the States. The Pacific coastal states have already threatened to secede from the Union - which we cannot allow to happen.
If POTUS wants to act unilaterally, I support him!
From what I’ve read, the president can invoke the Insurrection Act without the governor of the state asking. Lemme look. Kind of seems to me that Q has mentioned the Insurrection Act.
There are various chapters of the Insurrection Act that can be used, even without request from the governor or state government.
https://www.history.com/news/insurrection-act-thomas-jefferson-aaron-burr
Thomas Jefferson Signed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to Foil a Plot by Aaron Burr
The Insurrection Act gives U.S. presidents the authority to deploy active duty military to maintain or restore peace in times of crisis. The Insurrection Act was invoked numerous times in the 20th century, most famously when Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division to enforce the desegregation of public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas.
***
ince 1807, the Insurrection Act has been amended several times to meet different political challenges.
In 1861, Abraham Lincoln expanded the law to form the legal basis for waging the Civil War. Without it, he wouldn’t have had the authority to send federal troops into a state without the governor’s permission.
After the Civil War, the Insurrection Act was further amended to give the president authority to enforce the 14th Amendment and the conditions of Reconstruction in the South. That authority is now found in Section 253 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which gives the president the right to take military action within a state when “any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection.”
That’s the same authority invoked during the civil rights era by Presidents Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy to deploy troops to the South to enforce desegregation in defiance of governors.
The Insurrection Act was last invoked in 1992 under President George H.W. Bush, after Peter Wilson, then-governor of California, requested help to quell widespread riots after four police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King were acquitted.
In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, President George W. Bush explored expanding the Insurrection Act to place command of the region’s National Guard under federal control. Ultimately, Bush declined to invoke the act, although it was eventually amended in 2006 to broaden the scope under which the president may act under the law.
Hmm, here’s a gov document, better, but a pdf so copies weird.
https://policy.defense.gov/portals/11/documents/hdasa/references/insurrection_act.pdf
10 U.S.C. §§ 331-335
Sec. 331. Federal aid for State governments
Whenever there is an insurrections in any State against its government, the President
may, upon the request of its legislature or of its governor if the legislature cannot be
convened, call into Federal service such of the militia of the other States, in the number
requested by that State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to
suppress the insurrection.
Sec. 332. Use of militia and armed forces to enforce Federal authority
Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or
assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable
to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial
proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use
such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress
the rebellion.
Sec. 333. Interference with State and Federal law
The President, by using the militia or the armed forces, or both, or by any other means,
shall take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any
insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, if it—
(1) so hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States
within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege,
immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the
constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right,
privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or
(2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes
the course of justice under those laws.
In any situation covered by clause (1), the State shall be considered to have denied the
equal protection of the laws secured by the Constitution.
Sec. 334. Proclamation to disperse
Whenever the President considers it necessary to use the militia or the armed forces under
this chapter, he shall, by proclamation, immediately order the insurgents or those
obstructing the enforcement of the laws to disperse and retire peaceably to their abodes
within a limited time.