Donald Trump ordered 700 Marines to Los Angeles, and the defense secretary can’t explain what authority enabled him to do so.
In a terse exchange with Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin Wednesday, Pete Hegseth couldn’t cite any portion of the Constitution that might allow the president to send troops to engage U.S. citizens.
“Just specifically, Mr. Secretary, what is the authority that the administration is using to deploy active-duty Marines to California neighborhoods? What authority?” Baldwin asked.
“Senator, the president has constitutional authority in order to support—” Hegseth began, before Baldwin interjected, asking for a specific “provision of the Constitution” that gave Trump such power.
But Hegseth wasn’t able to, instead asking Congress to offer their blind faith that the administration had pre-verified the constitutionality of such an action.
“I’d have to pull up the specific provision, but our Office of General Counsel, alongside our leadership, has reviewed and ensured in the order that we set out that it’s completely constitutional for the president to use federal troops to defend federal law enforcement,” Hegseth said.
“I’d like to know the specific constitutional statutory authority,” Baldwin pressed. “The president made it clear that he relied on Section 12406 of Title 10 with regard to the National Guard troops. I need to know the authority that he is relying upon in terms of active-duty Marines being deployed to California neighborhoods.”
Baldwin then asked Hegseth if he would follow up to provide the exact statute, to which he responded that there’s “plenty of precedent” in administering active duty troops to “support law enforcement.”
“I’m not disputing that,” Baldwin said. “I am just asking you to cite the authority under which the active duty Marines are being deployed to California.”
Hegseth insisted that the appropriate statute was cited in the executive order, and then promised to follow up with Baldwin’s office.
BALDWIN: What is the authority that the administration is using to deploy active duty Marines to California neighborhoods?HEGSETH: The president has constitutional authorityBALDWIN: Cite the provision of the ConstitutionHEGSETH: I’d have to pull up the specific provision pic.twitter.com/Eq1djzwQFi
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 11, 2025
Trump’s decision to send hundreds of Marines to the City of Angels is expected to cost U.S. taxpayers $134 million, defense officials revealed Tuesday. Their presence—per the White House—is intended to support ICE agents as they conduct mass deportation raids of the city while thousands of locals protest the president’s agenda.
But the order itself appears to violate the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law dating back to 1878 that forbids the government from using the military for law enforcement purposes. The White House could have bypassed the military doctrine by invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to utilize the military during periods of rebellion or mass civil unrest, but had not done so by the time of the order. (Trump has openly discussed leveraging the nineteenth-century law to enact his agenda since his inauguration.)
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