Thread by @3rd_POTUS

I have gotten a lot of questions about martial law recently so here goes.

Thread

First what does the constitution say on the subject?

While it does not use the term martial law it does say in Article 1 Section 8 & 9

Congress has the power "To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

"The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."

Writ of Habeas Corpus is our right to due process and freedom from imprisonment on groundless charges.

In short it's your right to a day in court.

Martial Law has been put in place 12 times in America. The first time was during the War of 1812 Andrew Jackson declared it to secure the area around New Orleans during the Battle of New Orleans.
The most recent was The Freedom Riders in Alabama in 1961

What martial law means is really simple. The government gives control over an area to the military. We live by military law. The military are the police. And the military has the right to suspend the constitution in that area.

If that doesn't scare the crap out of you think of it this way. If martial law is declared in your area, the military can quarter troops in your home, take from it whatever they want and arrest you for a reason they can make up later. And it's all legal.

SCOTUS has interpreted to allow the declaration of martial law by both the president or Congress. A governor may declare martial law within her or his own state. The power to do so usually is granted in the state constitution. Congress has never declared martial law.

Now for the bright side since the Civil War congress has made moves to limit the powers of the federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. Firstly with the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878

Some plan English reading of the Posse Comitatus Act for those curious

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Com…

In the event of martial law, the courts would have to petition the military to have Habeas Corpus restored, but there is no guarantees there. The military is thinking about one thing. The safety of the soldiers, everything after that is secondary, including you.

Martial law has never been put in place without some sort of just cause in the United States, so there is no answer to What would happen if Trump just did it one day.

Someone asked What do you do to resist martial law.
Sorry to say, you don't. You do what the guy with an M-16 says.
He gives an order, they are all lawful and you follow it.
Resistance becomes much like the Resistance in Occupied France with the same consequences for resisting.

Now to answer What do I think would happen if Trump just declared it one day. I think the state governor in question sues the Trump administration to have it lifted without just cause for martial law the courts side with the state.

And Fox News spins it that, and no matter how Republican the state governor is, declares that governor a "deep state liberal"