Fearing a Trump Repeat, Jan. 6 Panel Considers Changes to Insurrection Act

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

WASHINGTON — In the days before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, some of President Donald Trump’s most extreme allies and members of right-wing militia groups urged him to use his power as commander in chief to unleash the military to help keep him in office.

Now, as the House committee investigating last year’s riot uncovers new evidence about the lengths to which Trump was willing to go to cling to power, some lawmakers on the panel have quietly begun discussions about rewriting the Insurrection Act, the 1807 law that gives presidents wide authority to deploy the military within the United States to respond to a rebellion.

The discussions are preliminary, and debate over the act has been fraught in the aftermath of Trump’s presidency. Proponents envision a doomsday scenario in which a rogue future president might try to use the military to stoke — rather than put down — an insurrection, or to abuse protesters. But skeptics worry about depriving a president of the power to quickly deploy armed troops in the event of an uprising, as presidents did during the Civil War and the civil rights era.

While Trump never invoked the law, he threatened to do so in 2020 to have the military crack down on crowds protesting the police killing of George Floyd. Stephen Miller, one of his top advisers, also proposed putting it into effect to turn back migrants at the southwestern border, an idea that was rejected by the defense secretary at the time, Mark Esper.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/fearing-trump-repeat-jan-6-115121061.html

[zuul]

1. I'm so glad they're looking into this.

I guess the founding fathers never envisioned a "rogue future president might try to use the military to stoke — rather than put down — an insurrection" but here we are.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. All the different forms of government still rely upon a head of state and power at the top

Monarch, enlightened despot, dictator, various forms of elected officials. Power can be used for good or evil, for the common good or private gain, for the future or for the present. Evil leaders have always sought high office, and not every bad one is filtered out. Laws are only as good as the incorruptible people who write and enforce them.

[SoonerPride]

3. And the likelihood it would pass is what?

Zero?

More empty theater.

[UTUSN]

4. "discussions are preliminary" - is *anything* worth a fast track?!