(Tribune News Service) — Several U.S. senators are sponsoring a bill that sets new limits on the Insurrection Act of 1807, which grants presidents the power to send troops to suppress protests, a measure President Donald Trump has said he might use in the wake of protests in Los Angeles.

The bill that 22 senators introduced on Wednesday restricts the act to only be invoked as a last resort, requires presidents to consult with Congress before involving the act and approve the use of it after seven days.

“It’s clear that President Trump is unworried about defying the limits on executive power clearly outlined in our Constitution,” said Sen. Mark Warner, who sponsored the bill on Monday. “Though he has not yet invoked the Insurrection Act, his threats to do so indicate a pressing need for congressional reform.”

Warner said he wants to ensure that presidents don’t use military personnel as instruments of personal or political power.

The Insurrection Act gives presidents virtually unchecked power to deploy military forces to enforce the laws or to suppress rebellion whenever unlawful obstructions, combinations, assemblages or rebellion make it impracticable to enforce federal law.

“If there’s an insurrection I would certainly invoke it,” Trump told reporters earlier this month, when asked about Los Angeles protests against sweeping Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids there.

Without invoking the act, Trump sent California National Guard troops, over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsome, and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to protect the ICE agents.

The legislation says the act can only be triggered when an insurrection, rebellion or violence involves “such numbers or … such force or capacity as to overwhelm state or local authorities.”

The bill also would allow a president to send troops when people are obstructing laws that protect rights promised by the Constitution when police are unable to provide that protection or refuse to do so — as was the case in 1957 when President Dwight Eisenhower invoked the act when Arkansas officials refused to protect Black students trying to attend a high school a federal court had ordered to be integrated.

In addition, the bill says the Insurrection Act can’t be used to impose martial law or suspend habeas corpus — the legal right that says authorities are required to come to court and explain why they have jailed a person. Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War.

The bill also says individuals, as well as local or state governments, can go to court if a president has misused or abused authority.

The last time a president invoked the act was when President George H.W. Bush ordered federal troops to Los Angeles when riots erupted after the 1992 acquittal of 4 police officers charged with beating Rodney King.

President Ulysses Grant invoked the act 6 times during the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War as white supremacist mobs threatened freed Blacks. Presidents have also invoked it when violent mobs threatened Blacks during the Civil Rights era, and to put down union strikes.

In addition to Warner, sponsors are: Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn; Alex Padilla, D-Calif.; Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y,; Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Edward J. Markey, D-Mass.; Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass; Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich.; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc.; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Chris Coons, D-Del., Peter Welch, D-Vt.; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore; Andy Kim, D-N.J.; John Hickenlooper, D-Col., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

© 2025 Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va..

Visit www.timesdispatch.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.