Trump may use the Insurrection Act if he is prevented from deploying the National Guard

President Trump has publicly said he is open to the idea of using the Insurrection Act to deploy the national guard in order to protect federal buildings.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 is the U.S. federal law that empowers the president of the United States to nationally deploy the U.S. military and to federalize the National Guard units of the individual states in specific circumstances, such as the suppression of civil disorder, of insurrection, and of armed rebellion.

For the act to be envoked, the situation would need to threaten public order at a scale that the local and state authorities can not control. This has not happened yet in Portland.

Trump spoke to this a day after a federal judge blocked President Trump from sending the national guard to Portland. Trump added, “You look at what’s happening with Portland over the years, it’s a burning hell hole."

The President has likened the situtation in Portland to an "insurrection"

Trump stated, Troops from the national guard were sent to Portland to guard an ICE facility. President Trump stated, "If people were being killed, and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I'd do that."

At the same time, Trump was sued by the state of Illinois as well as Chicago earlier Monday sued to block Trumps deployment of hundreds of national guard troops.