The last use of this law came in 1992 when President George H.W. Bush called it out to send troops to Los Angeles to defeat the Rodney King riots.
As protests against federal immigration enforcement flare across Los Angeles over the weekend, questions sparked about whether President Donald Trump would invoke the Rebellion Act of 1807 and send active-duty US members to quell the riots and vandalism.
The law allows the president to deploy the National Guard or other US military personnel to overthrow an uprising that hinders the rights of the public if the state’s configured authorities “cannot, fail, or refuse to do so.”
