What Trump can and can’t do with the Insurrection Act - Demystifying the most ominous law in America

Article Title: What Trump can and can’t do with the Insurrection Act - Demystifying the most ominous law in America

Source: If you can keep it - Insights (Protect Democracy)

Date of Publication: November 3, 2025

Author(s): Amanda Carpenter. Carpenter is an editor at Protect Democracy

Rebecca Lullo. Lullo leads Protect Democracy's work to promote healthy civil-military relations and mobilize national security leaders to defend U.S. democracy.

Introduction: In the United States, the military is not used for domestic law enforcement. That’s a bedrock civic principle, one that separates our democracy from dictatorships around the world. Our troops serve to protect the American people from harm coming from abroad, not to police people at home.

Legally speaking, though, there is one glaring exception: The Insurrection Act.

The full text of the article is available here.

Photo by Tabrez Syed on Unsplash.