CaliToday (07/10/2025): President Donald Trump on Monday issued a stark warning that he would consider invoking the rarely used and highly controversial Insurrection Act to deploy the U.S. military on American soil, escalating a tense standoff with the federal judiciary.
The president's threat came just one day after a federal judge blocked his administration from sending National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon. Trump, who has repeatedly claimed the city has been overrun by left-wing "domestic terrorists," framed the court's decision as an unacceptable obstacle to restoring law and order.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump stated that while he did not yet see the need to use the powerful 1807 law, his administration would not be deterred by legal challenges if the situation escalated.
“If I had to enact it, I'd do it," the president said. "If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up.”
He then launched a blistering attack on both the city and the judge who issued the ruling. “You look at what’s happening with Portland over the years, it’s a burning hell hole,” Trump added. “And then you have a judge that lost her way that tries to pretend that there’s no problem.”
Explainer: The Insurrection Act
The Insurrection Act of 1807 is a federal law that grants the President of the United States extraordinary authority to deploy the U.S. military or federalize state-level National Guard troops for domestic law enforcement. It allows the president to bypass the Posse Comitatus Act, which normally prohibits the use of the military for civilian policing. Invoking the act is a momentous step, reserved for what the president deems an insurrection or rebellion against the United States, and it has been used sparingly in modern history, most notably during the Civil Rights era and the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
A "Legal Insurrection"?
The president's comments are rooted in a broader administration-wide clash with the judiciary. Earlier on Monday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller offered a stunning re-framing of the conflict, accusing the courts of engaging in a "legal insurrection."
Miller argued that judicial rulings stifling the White House’s agenda amounted to “an insurrection against the laws and Constitution of the United States.”
“We need to have district courts in this country that see themselves as being under the laws and Constitution and not being able to take for themselves powers that are reserved solely for the president,” Miller added, articulating a maximalist view of executive power.
A Familiar Threat
This is not the first time President Trump has floated the idea of using this emergency power. During his 2024 campaign, he explicitly said he would use the law to suppress unrest in American cities. More controversially, at the end of his first term, some supporters urged him to invoke the law in an attempt to hold onto power after his election loss to former President Joe Biden.
The latest threat, however, represents a direct response to a judicial check on his authority, setting the stage for a potential constitutional showdown between the executive and judicial branches of government. While Trump has qualified his statement for now, the administration’s rhetoric signals a clear willingness to challenge the fundamental limits of presidential power.