‘Unprecedented territory: 10th Amendment reserves power of local law enforcement to the states’

‘Unprecedented territory: 10th Amendment reserves power of local law enforcement to the states’

Joining me now from Washington is legal analyst and former US prosecutor Eric Lasan. Eric, thank you so much again for your time. These are unprecedented moves by an American president. So, does Donald Trump have an actual legal basis for this? Thank you for having me. Apparently, Donald Trump has no basis in reality, but that may be a separate question for whether a court gives him so-called legal permission to act. And namely, the problem is through the Supreme Court, which has been extremely differential and a series of decisions that they have been engaging in filters downward in the American legal system because of its authority onto the lower courts and the trial courts that look at this. But there has to be some statutory authority that is consistent with the constitution that is invoked. For example, in California, when Trump did this a couple months ago, he invoked almost uh never used before legal authority to do it, and it was a very close call as to whether a court would approve that. The initial court did not, but later on appeal, the appellet court gave him permission to go forward at least temporarily. And then there was a further trial that hasn’t been resolved yet that they took evidence in a couple weeks ago. So we don’t have a conclusive answer to that. But he has less authority here than he does in Washington DC because Washington DC is not a state. These other cities whether it be Baltimore or Chicago are obviously in states Maryland and Illinois respectively. Neither the governors nor the mayors of those states want National Guards there. They are not allowing the national guards to be federalized at least under their authority and the constitution does say that normally the police powers reside strictly with the states. So we have here a clash of the federal authority which exists to a certain extent in the constitution but the specific state authority which is placed with the police power. So we’re really in unprecedented territory. You’ve got the House Minority Leader and the NYC Democratic Congressman Hakeim Jeff accusing Donald Trump of manufacturing a crisis in Chicago in order to justify sending in the National Guard. But in which circumstances does the US Constitution give the federal government authority over the National Guard? There is nothing specifically in the constitution that gives the president uh the ability to deploy the national guards against the wishes of the states. Uh it happened in circumstances before very rarely where the states were a part of the effort. This is what’s unprecedented here. The 10th amendment to the constitution says the police power the the power to enforce local law enforcement shall reside exclusively in the states. The conflict is if the president is uh fighting a national emergency or a foreign invasion then the constitution does give him authority. And that’s sort of the language that the president is using. He’s trying to liken this to an invasion. But look, that’s not fooling anybody. The people in these cities uh in in the the leadership in these cities and in the states where the cities are located are saying that’s simply not happening. Nothing like this is happening. So this is where the conflict arises. But it may ultimately be that if a court says look all the and it will be ultimately the Supreme Court says he can declare a national invasion or some sort of national emergency and a total falling apart of any other uh fabric of national security without doing this that uh that legally then lower courts would have to follow along and give permission. But at that point, it’s so far away from reality that it wouldn’t have any credibility. Nobody would would accept such a farce. And this is the situation that we really risk running into. Such moves do not bode well for the country as a whole, do they, Eric? No. If they’re pushed to an extreme, and we know Donald Trump is nothing if not an extremist in his views when he’s unchecked. If pushed to an extreme, this could lead to a civil war. This is like colonial rule. The the people that are actually impacted by this. The local leadership, the local authorities, the local government do not want this. And Trump is forcing it upon them against their will and on the flimsiest of legal pretexts and on zero factual pretext. Eric Lasam from Washington. Thank you again. My pleasure.

Donald Trump has threatened to deploy   troops to other Democratic strongholds, including Chicago and Baltimore, putting him on a collision course with the US Constitution as the US president seeks to expand his executive powers on an unprecedented scale. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24’s Annette Young welcomes Eric Lisann, Legal Analyst and former US Federal Prosecutor.
#Trump #NationalGuard #Autocracy

🔔 Subscribe to France 24 now: https://f24.my/YTen
🔴 LIVE – Watch FRANCE 24 English 24/7 here: https://f24.my/YTliveEN

🌍 Read the latest International News and Top Stories: https://www.france24.com/en/

Like us on Facebook: https://f24.my/FBen
Follow us on X: https://f24.my/Xen
Bluesky: https://f24.my/BSen and Threads: https://f24.my/THen
Browse the news in pictures on Instagram: https://f24.my/IGen
Discover our TikTok videos: https://f24.my/TKen
Get the latest top stories on Telegram: https://f24.my/TGen