by b_b

There is [a] provision of the Insurrection Act that arguably gives the President greater unilateral authority. This provision states that, when the President determines that there are unlawful activities which “make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States,” he may call in the armed forces. It was passed in 1956, in order to give Presidents the authority to enforce civil-rights laws.

Conservatives have done a remarkably efficient job of turning laws on their head in recent years (e.g. Religious Freedom Restoration Act) by using the letter of the law to do the exact opposite of the spirit of the law.