It's a couple of years after the fact, but just over five years after the fact, Missouri Senator Tom Cotton has finally gotten his wish: They've sent in the troops.
President Trump has sent 700 Marines to Los Angeles to assist the National Guard against the will of Governor Gavin Newsom. In response, Newsom is suing the Trump administration for violating state sovereignty.
The state of Downtown Los Angeles and the ensuing federal actions can be boiled down to one word: Chaos. But is there any legal precedent for what’s happening?
The answer: Not really.
Thane Rosenbaum, CBS News Political Analyst, joined Dave Cohen on WWL to explain that, in many ways, the United States is entering uncharted waters.
“For people who love Westerns where the sheriff rounds up a posse, there's a Latin term called Posse Comitatus, which is the law of our land. This is how you deputize a posse,” explains Rosenbaum.
Constitutionally, Rosebaum explains that when it comes to law enforcement, police powers are a state and local matter, not a federal one. Posse Comitatus essentially bars the use of the U.S. military for civil law enforcement.
“Posse Comitatus stands for the principle that you never deputize or militarize your own people against your own people. In other words, you don't bring out the military—the Marines—against your people. That's a bedrock principle in American law,” Rosenbaum explains.
The National Guard, however, is the exception.
“The National Guard could be called by the governor,” says Rosenbaum. “The governor can't call in the Marines, but a governor can call out the National Guard. And that's what Newsom is saying: It's kind of my job to say that my police can't handle this. I think they can, but if they can't, it's my job.”
In light of recent events, many are asking if a U.S. president has ever called in the U.S. Military to act as law enforcement within its own borders.
The last time a U.S. President invoked the Insurrection Act (known as a sort of loophole to Posse Comitatus) was 1992. George H.W. Bush used the Insurrection Act during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. However, in 1992 and prior occurrences, the president called on the National Guard, not the Marines or any other branch of the U.S. military. Additionally, in 1992, Bush called up the National Guard by request of then-Governor Pete Wilson. In this case, Trump is deploying them inspite of what the Governer is saying.
Rosenbaum cites instances of the president calling in the National Guard, bypassing the will of a governor. He explains, “In the 1960s, when it came to integrating schools in the deep South, Mississippi, the University of Mississippi, even the march on Selma, President Johnson sent in the National Guard. The governors did not want National Guardsmen. They wanted to keep schools segregated. So it's not like there's no precedent for doing this.”
However, Rosenbaum continues to say, “What is different is the Marines. The Marines really violate this larger spirit of Posse Comitatus. You do not send the military in for domestic matters. That we've never seen before."
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Breaking down Trump's and Newsom's legal arguements
Now, each side is currently in the midst of developing a legal argument. Rosenbaum breaks down the mindset of both California and White House leadership to show how each is trying to position and fortify their stances for when the case inevitably escalates.
Rosenbaum says, “This is Donald Trump's argument: Number one, we're not there facing your people. We're there facing immigrants who are here illegally. That is not a state matter. That is a federal matter. I'm the president of the United States, and I ran under the policy to do away with illegal immigration. You're either concealing them or preventing ICE from doing its job. That's why I'm doing this, because this is within my authority solely. Not yours, Governor, mine."
“And the second thing is,” Rosenbaum continues, “the President of the United States can take a critical look at the landscape of a state and go: You have police powers, but you won't use them. And if you're not going to use it, I'm the commander-in-chief of this country. And I have to step in and protect either the ICE officers or your own police officers that you don't want to protect.”
On the opposing side, California Governor Gavin Newsom has filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for “unlawful and unprecedented” deployment of the National Guard. This, Rosenbaum explains, is something that the United States has never seen before.
“A lot of things that deal with Donald Trump have been unprecedented,” Rosenbaum explains.
“No governor has ever brought a lawsuit against the federal government to somehow either stop or prevent the National Guard from intervening on a local police matter,” continues Rosenbaum. “They've never had to bring a lawsuit that says, Why are the Marines in my state? This is the American military. The American military fights abroad, not in Los Angeles. Why are these guys wearing khaki green running around in my state? That has never happened before.”
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