Lawmakers Call for Troops on the Streets of Chicago

Illinois state Reps. and Chicago Democrats John Fritchey and LaShawn Ford are calling on the governor, Chicago mayor Daley and Superintendent Jody Weis to use the National Guard in response to crime in the city.

The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits members of the federal uniformed services, including the State National Guard, from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain law and order on non-federal property within the United States. The act does not apply to National Guard units while under the authority of the governor of a state.

The John Warner National Defense Authorization Act gave the president the authority to call out National Guard troops in the event of “public emergencies,” although the wording of the bill was later repealed and reverted to the previous wording of the Insurrection Act.

In 2007, following Hurricane Katrina, Congress changed the 200-year-old Insurrection Act to allow the president to control state National Guards in the event of an emergency.

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