Thread: There's a fair amount of disinformation and misinformation going around about the federal government's legal authority to use troops to help respond to the unrest in Minneapolis. Here's a short #thread with answers (and citations to authority) for the five big questions:

1. "Isn't the military already on the ground"?

A: Yes, the MN National Guard has been deployed by Gov. Walz. But the Guard wears (at least) two hats. Right now, it's wearing its "state" hat, subject to the control solely of the Governor, which is uncontroversial.

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) May 30, 2020

2a. As relevant here, the Insurrection Act (https://t.co/XlSIdEvBfi) and 10 U.S.C. § 12406, which governs federalization of Guard troops (https://t.co/PhRPmIjg7n).

When these statutes are (properly) invoked, there is no Posse Comitatus problem with domestic use of the military.

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) May 30, 2020

4. "But if the Governor has already called out the National Guard, doesn't that block them from being federalized?"

A: No. The authorities to federalize the Guard do not depend on what they were doing beforehand; there may just be less *need* to do so if they're already on site.

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) May 30, 2020

5a. Historically, the real checks on abuse of these authorities have been political. The Insurrection Act hasn't been invoked since 1992—largely because domestic use of the military is generally unpopular.

But it's not implausible to argue that these statutes *could* apply now.

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) May 30, 2020

5c. There's a lot more to say on the topic, but I don't want to belabor the key points.

If you're curious about the broader historical and constitutional foundation for these authorities, see this paper I wrote back in 2004:https://t.co/GKRF5phBKg

Thanks for reading!!

/end

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) May 30, 2020

See also:https://t.co/kcjEEr51z7 https://t.co/pD4cRvClQJ

— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) May 30, 2020