Insurrection Act 2
Insurrection Act 2 : "The Insurrection Act governs when the President can declare a form of martial law. When the act is invoked, the military, including the National Guard, can carry out law enforcement functions without the consent of a Governor. Posse comitatus, a broad law that generally prevents the military from policing within the domestic United States, does not apply when the act is invoked. Until the "Insurrection Act Rider" was enacted in the fall of 2006, U.S. law focused on enabling the President to invoke the Insurrection Act during violent situations where the states or local communities were resisting lawful orders. The intent of the law, as the title suggests, was to deal with insurrection from individuals or groups. The law was not designed to address other situations, including natural disasters, or attacks from outside the country. In its original form, the Act has been invoked sparingly -- only ten times in the past five decades. Over the past 40 years, the act has only been invoked with the consent of the governors, using authorities under other sections of the U.S. Code that allow states to invite in federal military forces for police functions. Under the new language, added to the law in the fall of 2006, the President can invoke the act and declare martial law in cases where public order breaks down as a result of a natural disaster, epidemic, terrorist attack, or under the nebulous term of "other conditions." This change makes it easier for the President to invoke the Act in cases beyond an insurrection - cases which were not intended under the previous purpose of the Act. With these succinct but sweeping changes, the President now does not have to contact or collaborate with any state agency in taking control of the Guard and injecting federal military forces, to carry out patrols or make arrests. The President has to notify but not explain to Congress that he or she believes that states cannot handle the situation. The change goes against practical and historical arrangements for handling emergencies, which constitutionally and practically have been headed and handled by governors and local officials. When operating under a governor in a state status, the National Guard is not bound by posse comitatus and can integrate seamlessly with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and first responders". (Leahy, "Insurrection Act," 2007)
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