White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller claims that local and state police in Minneapolis have been ordered to “stand down and surrender” to the feds.
The baffling statement, which seems to deliberately ignore the fact the federal government has no authority over local law enforcement, came in response to a social media post from New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, who wrote that “local cops have gone AWOL” in the face of anti-ICE protests in the city.
“Only federal officers are upholding the law,” Miller replied. “Local and state police have been ordered to stand down and surrender.”
It wasn’t immediately clear what Miller, who didn’t attend law school, was talking about.
Under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the federal government doesn’t have the authority to order local law enforcement officers to “stand down.”
And the only way local law enforcement could “surrender” would be if they were fighting a war against federal agents, which they’re not.
Miller seemed to be trying to lay the groundwork for President Donald Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows the president to deploy the military to suppress an uprising against the federal government.
But unless the local law enforcement officers themselves were leading the so-far nonexistent rebellion, invoking the Insurrection Act would have no bearing on state and local police.
The act itself does not allow the president to declare martial law and order the military to take over the role of civilian government, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School. Instead, it allows the military to assist state and federal authorities, not take their place.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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