Or not so hypothetical: Trump orders the Texas National Guard deployed to Chicago to locate and arrest Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker? How does that play out?
I ask because DJT said this morning they should both be arrested.
Once the President orders it, the effect is immediate and absolute. The national guard no longer reports to Gov Newsom. So if Newsom says listen to me/ignore Trump, I think there is no chance anyone acts on that. It’s purely symbolic.
They have certainly trained for being federalized and probably done it before. It’s not uncommon. There will be an actual Army general (and others down the chain) who is giving the actual commands (not Trump personally) and there is just no chance they are not going to obey this “still legal until a Court says its not” chain of command. Nor should they. Refusal to obey is a criminal offense.
Late:
I don’t see where Trump said or ordered the NG to locate and arrest the Mayor or Governor. Just they should be in jail for recently creating No ICE zones. Like Comey and the rest should be in jail. I’m certainly aware this is all devolving into chaos and I’m certainly aware Trump would want that to actually happen. I get the context, just making clear he did not say that - not in that linked article.
Nice job quoting me out of context to change what I said. The last sentence you snipped was the sentence where I said I was asking this question because DJT said this morning they should both be arrested and linked to the quote.
You also snipped the part where I said it may not be a hypothetical.
I never said Trump had ordered their arrests.
re: quoting you out of context. Apologies. Didn’t mean to imply that. I wanted to get the response in “late” in my post and rushed it.
To answer the hypothetical of whether the federalized national guard can arrest a civilian inside the US, the answer is not until the President later invokes the Insurrection Act (which Trump has threatened to do). Prior to invoking that act, it is illegal under the Posse Comitatus Act.
Like the ability/power to federalize NG, invoking the Insurrection Act is also immediate. You’d need a Court to overturn it. I won’t get into the reasons of what needs to be happening for the President to do that, because Trump doesn’t care he just says they are there and happening. Also, if there is not a basis to even federalize, then there is no basis for the Insurrection Act. Lastly, Invoking the insurrection act doesn’t = martial law, but aint good.